Flooding in Vermont

With near-record snowfall across Vermont, it seemed inevitable that there would be at least some flooding when it came time for the snow to melt.  Last weekend we experienced warm rain with some areas seeing thunderstorms as well.  The temperature also shot up to near 80 in many places.  With heavy snowpack still present in the Green Mountains, this has led to some flooding.



The above photo was taken today along the Winooski River in the Salmon Hole area, between Burlington and Winooski, Vermont.  Most of the time, the river lazily flows over the dam in the background - in fact last September we roamed about under the dam looking at rock outcroppings.  Today the dam is completely obscured, and the river has spilled out of its banks into the nearby flood plains.



In the above picture you can see a tree sticking out of the water.  This was taken just upstream from the other picture.

I checked this flood gage in Essex Junction and saw that the river reached two feet above flood stage and is slowly receding.  The flood gage updates automatically so I also took a screenshot.



The Middlebury River in East Middlebury was also raging yesterday, though the water seems slightly lower today.



Lewis Creek is also running high:


That picture was taken about a week ago, but the latest high water event led to similar or higher flows.


More info about the Vermont flooding is available here.

The forecast is for more rain on Wednesday and this weekend.  We'll see if this leads to more high water.  Lake Champlain will probably also reach flood stage of 100 feet tomorrow - currently the lake level is at 99.8 feet and rising, and the Winooski and other rivers aren't dropping in level fast enough to stop the rise.