The National Weather Service is reporting life-threatening flooding in the Northeast Kingdom, after 4 to 8 inches of rainfall this morning.
The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St. Johnsbury has reported 7.96 inches of rainfall, the highest single-day total in their 130 years of recorded weather.
Mark Breen is the senior meteorologist and planetarium director at the Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium in St. Johnsbury, and he joined Jenn Jarecki live during Morning Edition for a brief update on the continuing storm and outlook. This interview was recorded at 6:45 a.m.
Jenn Jarecki: What are Northeast Kingdom communities waking up to this morning, Mark? And what are you seeing around St. Johnsbury?
Mark Breen: Well, it's a very rapidly developing situation because thunderstorms concentrated and really kind of sat in place over portions of Caledonia and Essex County and over into Grafton County, New Hampshire. These areas of now getting some reports of anywhere from 2 to as much as 8 inches of rain falling in a very short period of time. And unfortunately, it's affecting some of the areas that are trying to recover from the flooding two weeks ago. And so there are numerous road wash outs, including some of the major state roads, Route 2 and Route 18 east of St. Johnsbury, Route 5 north of St. Johnsbury is flooded right now. And then there are numerous wash outs reported all the way northward, toward Lake Seymour in Eastern Orleans County. And so these are the areas that are still under flood advisories, and in some cases, a flash flood emergency, which is very rarely issued. It's been issued when things are so significant than it is life threatening as far as the situation is concerned.
Jenn Jarecki: And in terms of continued rainfall Mark, are we going to see continued rainfall throughout the day, or is that going to start to lessen?
Mark Breen: Well, the the good news is that that particular area of rain has moved out of the area. So that's certainly very fortunate. Unfortunately, there will be some localized showers and thunderstorms this afternoon. Now, many locations did not see this event from last night. This was concentrated mostly across the northeast. So some places even could use some rainfall. But there will be some localized showers and some heavy downpours today. And then tomorrow, more numerous showers and thunderstorms. And so for these areas that have been flooded, this is where the concern once again increases.
Jenn Jarecki: What areas specifically are you focusing on today? Which areas are being impacted the most?
Mark Breen: So specifically Caledonia County — the major river that drains through the county is the Passumpsic River and so that's the one that's experiencing probably the greatest flooding right now, but also the Moose River, which feeds into that from the east. And so that will be southern parts of Essex County. But again, we're getting reports from northern Essex County, some very heavy rainfall up near Averill and Norton. And so these areas also. Again, these will be the areas that would be greatest impacted if there are additional heavy rains this afternoon.
Jenn Jarecki: It's still a bit early Mark, but how do you think this storms impacts ultimately compare to the flooding earlier this month that you mentioned or even last summer's catastrophic flooding?
Mark Breen: Well, I would say each one gets smaller in terms of the area that's affected. Last summer's flooding covering the largest amount of area, the most recent flooding two weeks ago covering a zone across the northern sections of our listening area, while southern areas saw virtually no rainfall. This one is really concentrated over the Northeast Kingdom. So it's a small aerial coverage. But just for comparison, right here at the museum where our weather records go back 130 years, we had almost 8 inches of rain, 7.96 inches of rain, and that is 3 inches more than our greatest daily rainfall total in that 130 years. So the old record was 4.99 inches.
Jenn Jarecki: Mark, what can Vermonters expect weather-wise over the next few days?
Mark Breen: So we still have some very humid air in place. And so anytime that exists, obviously there's the possibility that some of that moisture, that humidity gets turned into showers and thunderstorms. Today, only a minor system goes through. So the coverage will be probably less than 40% of the area seeing any of the showers and storms. Tomorrow, however, the storm that's now in the Great Lakes comes eastward. It means more numerous showers and thunderstorms, especially afternoon and evening, capable of producing some heavy downpours. And if they either happen in the same location several times of they sit over a location, that's where the flash flooding becomes a concern.
Jenn Jarecki: Before you go, Mark, I wonder if you might touch on how this particular storm unfolded. The flooding seems more localized this time around. But there wasn't as much warning from public officials before early, early this morning. Can you talk to us about what happened here?
Mark Breen: Right this really — I won't say quite came out of the blue we were expecting showers and thunderstorms, especially in northeastern sections last night — but what happened was a very unusual storm off the ocean, a non tropical storm, moved northward. And although the storm near the surface dissipated, there was a storm above us. And it basically meant that any air that was rising quickly turned into clouds and showers and thunderstorms. It was also sitting over the same location for hour after hour. And so it's a very unusual situation, but it concentrated over Caledonia and Essex counties in Vermont and northern Grafton County in New Hampshire.
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