Flood — Windham, Vermont

2022-12-23 · near Townshend, Windham, Vermont

Event narrative

State Forest Road in Townshend was closed due to a washout.

Wider weather episode

Two separate frontal systems merged to form a powerful winter storm over the Great Lakes from December 22 to December 24 bringing multiple hazards to the region including heavy rain, snow, strong winds and a very cold air mass in its wake.

A widespread 1 to 3 inches of rain fell across the region. This led to some areas of minor flooding and some creeks/brooks to overflow their banks.

Strong pre-frontal and post-frontal winds occurred across the region. A few gusts topped out between 50 and 60 mph, especially across Bennington County. Numerous power outages were reported across southern Vermont.

A period of snow brought accumulations of 2 to 5 inches to mainly higher elevation areas as colder air built back into the region. This led to a chain up law to be activated along Vermont Route 9. As conditions worsened, a large number of slide offs, crashes and whiteout conditions led to Vermont Route 9 to close. In addition, Vermont Route 11 and Vermont Route 30 also closed for a time due to the poor weather conditions.

The combination of much colder air and gusty winds led to wind chill values dropping to 15 to 20 degrees below zero.

Key impacts: Minor flooding, road closures, power outages.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (43.0427, -72.6823)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1071064. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.