Heavy rain

Issued by The National Weather Service
Burlington, VT
11:24 am EDT, Tue., Mar. 23, 2010

THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE EAST BRANCH AUSABLE RIVER AT AUSABLE FORKS. * UNTIL THIS EVENING... OR UNTIL THE WARNING IS CANCELLED. * AT 10:15 AM TUESDAY THE STAGE WAS 6.5 FEET. * FLOOD STAGE IS 7.0 FEET. * MINOR FLOODING IS FORECAST. * FORECAST... RISE ABOVE FLOOD STAGE BY THIS AFTERNOON AND CONTINUE TO RISE TO NEAR 7.1 FEET IN THE AFTERNOON. THE RIVER WILL FALL BELOW FLOOD STAGE BY THIS EVENING. * IMPACT... AT 7.0 FEET... MINOR FLOODING CAN OCCUR IN KEENE. WATER BEGINS TO OVERFLOW ONTO HULLS FALLS ROAD... ROUTE 73... AND ROUTE 9N NEAR MARCY FIELD. HIGH WATER WILL IMPACT INTERESTS AT ALICE FALLS NEAR KEESEVILLE.

Low pressure this morning over Pennsylvania will move northeast to near Boston by late today. Radar at 8am (shown above) was showing heavy rain over the Montreal region, it has been falling since about 4am. Winds are gusting out of the northeast to 63km/h at Montreal, and 65km/h at Quebec City. While Montreal is reporting rain at 1C, the northern edge of the precipitation is falling as freezing rain and snow. Mirabel is 0C with freezing rain and Quebec City is -1C with snow. The cold rain, freezing rain and snow will continue all day with 20-40mm of total precipitation expected. Heavy snow is falling north of Quebec City into the Saguenay and Charlevoix regions. Roads are very poor in those areas as well as north of Montreal, where several schools have been closed for the day. Traffic is slow in metro Montreal due to water accumulation on area roadways and reduced visibility in heavy rain.

Weather Warnings are in effect for heavy rain, freezing rain and snow in most regions outside of metro Montreal including Eastern Ontario and the Ottawa Valley. Flood watches have been posted for New York and Vermont. Winds will remain strong today gusting over 60km/h. All precipitation will end overnight tonight as a period of wet snow with 5 to 10cm (2-4 inches) expected in many parts of southern Quebec and eastern Ontario, with a little less in the city.