6.27.12 Just The Right Amount of Rain - FOX44 - Burlington / Plattsburgh News, Weather & Sports

6.27.12 Just The Right Amount of Rain

It's been a soaker out there in some spots but I won't complain for three major reasons.

1. Florida has gotten as much as 28 inches of rain toward the northern part of the state, causing severe flooding.
2. The wildfires in Colorado are continuing with a lack of rain, hot temperatures, and strong winds not helping the situation.
3. And there's bird poop on the side of my car.

Yes # 3 is a legitimate reason! I try to wait for nature to wash my car before I do.

But in all seriousness I won't complain about the rain when I see the national stories about what else is going on in terms of the severe weather.

Rain totals since Sunday (and through Wednesday 8 a.m.) look like this. Montpelier has gotten almost two-and-a-half inches of rain during the four-day stretch, while Burlington has come in a close second place at nearly two inches.  Some local towns which got heavy rain Monday saw their rain gauges fill up in quickly in the last few days.

Northern areas have gotten the most of the rainfall. Towns and cities further south have gotten much less.

These are rainfall totals from 8 a.m. Monday to 8 a.m. Wednesday. You can notice a distinct line of where the heavy rain has fallen. I know I don't have every data point here, but southern Vermont has definitely been drier.

The good news is that even with the heavy rain, flooding continues to remain a low concern.  It has been just the right amount of rain for us to get a drink, but not an overflowing mouthful.

You're looking at 30-day data for Burlington at the International Airport. On the top image, the green filled areas show surplus in rainfall compared to average, while brown shows a deficit.  On the bottom image, the observed rainfall is shown in green blocks. The taller the blocks, the more rain we've had. Notice the big gap there in mid June! That was our 10-day stretch of dry weather where we lost about an inch of rain in the "compared to average" category. However we're back on the rise now thanks to the recent rain. This data is only updated through the 25th of June, which on the 26th Burlington got 1.11" so it should make the last 30 days just about even in terms of rain, maybe even a little higher than average.

Again prior to this event, streams were running about 10-40% of their average level. Thus there was a lot of room to give with this rain. The ground could handle at least 3 inches of rain in a 6 hour period, and we haven't really seen those numbers in a 48-72 hour period. More showers will be possible Wednesday, before high pressure builds in and drier air enters for Thursday and through the weekend. As a reminder, you can always get the latest weather forecast and discussion here: 

http://www.fox44now.com/story/10314165/full-forecast

-Meteorologist Steve Glazier