Severe thunderstorms approach Vermont, threatening powerful winds and large hail

In the atmosphere above Lake Ontario, a vortex of air was shedding thunderstorms Tuesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service , and flinging them east towards Vermont, bringing more potentially dangerous weather to the state.

As a result, the weather service placed nine Vermont counties — Addison, Bennington, Orange, Washington, Chittenden, Grand Isle, Rutland, Windham and Windsor — on a severe thunderstorm watch lasting through Tuesday evening.

The storms “will be moving very quickly,” according to Peter Banacos, a meteorologist at the Burlington branch of the weather service, and “should cross Vermont from 4 to 9 p.m.”

“Damaging winds are the main concern, isolated large hail, and brief, heavy rainfall,” Banacos said.

With many Vermonters still reeling from last week’s rain and subsequent floods, Banacos made sure to emphasize that “any flash flooding will be an isolated risk,” with the state expected to get a comparatively low 0.5 inches to 1 inch of rainfall.

However, thunderstorms can bring “locally higher amounts.” And with soils waterlogged from all the recent rain, amounts “as low as 1-1.5 inches in an hour” or “1.5-2 inches in 3 hours” would be enough to exceed flash flood guidance in places such as Washington or Addison counties, according to the weather service.

Still, because of the high speeds at which the storms were moving, Banacos said he remained hopeful that it would not “rain for a very long time in any one spot.”

“This is nothing like the conditions we had for last week,” he said.

Instead, Banacos said Vermonters should be most wary of the other threats that storms of this caliber can bring.

A severe thunderstorm is “one that produces winds 58 mph or stronger and/or hail 1 inch in diameter or larger,” according to weather service guidelines .

At that speed, wind gusts are “strong enough to knock down tree limbs and power lines,” according to Banacos, and “in areas where soils are really saturated you can get entire trees uprooted.”

And hail an inch or larger in diameter — a golf ball is 1.6 inches across — is enough to leave minor dents in a car, according to Banacos.

As with any thunderstorm, the risk of cloud-to-ground lightning is also very real, which is why it’s important to “keep an eye on the sky” if you have outdoor plans, according to Banacos.

“Take shelter in a sturdy structure, the lowest floor is usually best, away from windows,” he said.

At a press conference Tuesday in Berlin , Vermont’s deputy commissioner of public safety, Dan Batsie, said that state officials were monitoring Tuesday’s weather. He said that emergency responders were resting up after last week’s storm but were on standby if needed.

“While these storms are not anticipated to approach the level of destruction that the previous storm did, they do possess the capability to produce high winds, limited flash flooding and cause local power outages,” Batsie said.

After this storm, however, should come a long-awaited calm, according to the weather service. On Thursday, conditions were expected to dry out significantly after a long stretch of humidity over the past few weeks.

“We just need to get through this afternoon and we’ll be in the clear,” Banacos said.

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