Strong Wind — Western Addison, Vermont

2012-12-21 · Western Addison, Vermont

Event narrative

Strong wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph along Route 7 through Salisbury, Middlebury, Vergennes downed several tree branches, a few trees and power lines. These strong winds caused a tractor-trailer to be blown over that caused a fatal accident to the other vehicle's driver in Salisbury.

Wider weather episode

A strong, complex, dual area of low pressure from the Great Lakes to the New Jersey coast on the morning of December 21st eventually lifted north across New York into Quebec by December 22nd.

On the front end of the storm, a wintry mix of snow and some sleet accumulated 1 to 3 inches across Vermont with up to 6 inches in the southern Green Mountains. More importantly, a strong low-level jet stream of 85 to 100+ mph moved across Vermont during the morning and early afternoon. A predominate southeast flow created damaging down slope winds across the western slopes of the Green mountains. Much of the damage was to trees and power lines, but there was some light structure damage to buildings and a few tractor trailers were blown over. One such accident in Salisbury resulted in one fatality. An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 customers were without power.

On the backside (December 22nd), the combination of wraparound moisture from the departing storm and strong, moist upslope flow produced widespread 2 to 5 inches across much of central and northern Vermont. In the climatological favored western slope communities of the Green Mountains, 6 to 12 inches of snow occurred.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 419341. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.