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Rainfall brings welcome relief to Vermont ...
As a result of these fairly steady precipitation inputs, surface soil moisture conditions have
begun to be replenished, so that the effects of the drought on vegetation (lawns, crops and others)
are not as severe as they were a month ago.
However, even though the impacts of agricultural drought appear to be decreasing, lake
levels, river stages and groundwater supplies have yet to be fully recharged. As such, the
hydrologic component of the drought still exists. Since there is a natural delay (lag) between the
time at which precipitation deficits are observed compared to the decline in surface and ground
waters, it is to be expected so time will elapse before the entire landscape (from soil moisture to
the hydrological sectors) truly recovers from the winter-summer drought of 1998/1999.
For more information on the existing drought and methods by which to track drought conditions,
see the:
National Weather Service Office, Burlington - Drought Statement
National Weather Service Forecast Office, Albany - Drought Statement
USGS News Release on Drought Conditions in Vermont
SEVERE WEATHER OF EARLY JULY 1999
The Fourth of July weekend and subsequent days will be remembered for the excessive
heat conditions that gave way to a rash of daily severe thunderstorms. As warm, humid air
approached New England and southeast Canada in the early morning of July 5, 1999 the first
severe storm would be an electrical thunderstorm in the mountainous Laurentians region of
Quebec and parts of the island of Montreal to the south. Over 400, 000 people lost electrical
power, a situation that would persist for several days. At the same time in Vermont, severe
thunderstorms would leave wind-related tree damage in parts of Orleans (Newport and North
Troy), Franklin, Caledonia Grand Isle (Alburg Springs), and Essex counties (National Weather
Service, 1999).
By July 6, a cold front had moved across the region again helping to spawn severe
thunderstorms that would uproot and or down trees in Franklin, Lamoille (Hyde Park,
Waterville), Washington (Cabot, Calais), Windsor (Windsor, Bridgewater, Woodstock, Chester,
Wilder, White River Junction, Hartland, Ludlow), Essex (Lunenburg), Orleans (Derby Line) and
Rutland (Sudbury, East Wallingford, Rutland) counties. Wind gusts of 59 miles per hour () were
reported to the National Weather Service by a spotter in West Danville or Caledonia county
(National Weather Service, 1999). Power outages in the wake of this series of storms would leave
customers without electricity across Rutland county and the St. Johnsbury area (The Burlington
Free Press, 1999). Later that evening a tornado would touch down in the Quebec cities of
Drummondville, Berthierville and Yamaska.
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