Vermont windstorm: Power outages spread on a stormy, topsy-turvy weather day

Free Press Staff Report
Burlington Free Press
A wind advisory was in effect for much of Friday, Sept. 21, 2018, as a warm front was passing through.

Friday is not being kind to umbrellas, nor to power lines.

It's that kind of a weather day in Burlington, Northern Vermont and the Adirondacks.

The passage of weather fronts is putting Vermonters through the wringer, National Weather Service forecasters in Burlington say.

We're seeing significant winds, thundershowers and rain that seems to be moving horizontally rather than vertically. Oh, and by Monday morning, the Northeast Kingdom could see freezing temperatures.

Vermont power outages spread amid wind advisory

At 5 p.m. Friday, there were nearly 2,000 power outages reported across Vermont, most in Franklin and Chittenden counties. While the outages were concentrated in northern Vermont late in the afternoon, they had occurred in large numbers in other counties earlier, including in Orange, Orleans, Washington and Windsor counties.

Blame the wind. A wind advisory is in effect through 10 p.m. What does that mean?

"Strong winds may blow down limbs, trees and power lines," the weather service advisory states. "Scattered power outages are expected."

Wind speeds will reach 35 mph or more in Northern Vermont, with a chance gusts could reach 50 mph. Peak winds are likely late Friday afternoon and well into the evening.

"Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high
profile vehicles," the advisory states. "Use extra caution."

 

Why the weather is changing dramatically today

The culprit is a massive warm front moving in a northeasterly direction. It won't actually get all that warm in Burlington on Friday -- the high is forecast to be 72. But in Upstate New York locations situated to the south and west of Vermont, the mercury could hit the high 80s or even 90 degrees.

As the warm front moves through, gusty winds from the south and south west are likely. They'll pick up before and after sunset.

A "trailing cold front" might bring some more rain overnight, forecasters say.

'A reinforcing shot of cool Canadian air'

After the rain and winds subside, it will become much cooler, and drier, for the weekend when autumn begins (9:54 p.m. Saturday, if you're wondering when).

The weather service forecasts what it calls "a reinforcing shot of cool Canadian air" that will govern our weather between Saturday morning and early next week.

By Sunday, the high temperature will struggle to reach 60 in northern Vermont.

And that means -- brace for it -- we'll begin to see low temperatures that might reach all the way down to the 30s.

"Sunday night will be the colder of the two nights, and some locations in the Northeast Kingdom and the Northern Adirondacks will likely approach the freezing mark by early Monday morning," the weather service says.

Can winter be far away?