A town plow keeps roads clear in Underhill during an ice and rain storm on Monday, Dec. 29. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Vermonters woke up Monday to roads covered in ice and sleet, thousands of homes without power and warnings that conditions may persist overnight.
Burlington-based National Weather Service Meteorologist Conor Lahiff said northern and central Vermont east of the Green Mountains were hit hardest by the ice storm and outages. The western portion of the state saw a winter weather advisory, but Bennington and Windham counties faced less impact due to warmer temperatures, Lahiff said.
Across the state, rainfall ranged from a quarter to a half inch, which caused an ice build up of one tenths of an inch to a quarter of an inch of ice in some areas, Lahiff said. Ice accumulation of two tenths of an inch or more can cause outages and more significant damage, he added.
“Temperatures across the area have generally warmed above freezing,” he said. “The areas that are hovering around freezing are little hollows in central and Northeast Kingdom Vermont.”
But Lahiff said temperatures will drop back down below freezing after sunset on Monday, so hazardous road conditions remain a concern especially on dirt roads.
Nonessential Vermont state offices were closed Monday because of weather conditions, and the Vermont State Police advised the public to avoid road travel amid the ice storm.
A vehicle crash in West Searsburg on Monday obstructed both lanes on Vermont Route 9, and Vermont State Police warned of delays and recommended taking alternative routes.
Three people and dog take a walk in the rain at Mills Riverside Park in Jericho on Monday, Dec. 29. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
During one of the busiest snow sport weeks of the year, Jay Peak closed all operations on Monday, and several resorts such as Stowe, Sugarbush, Okemo and Bolton Valley delayed opening lifts due to the icing conditions.
There were over 6,000 homes that lost power at the peak of the outages Monday morning, concentrated in the central Vermont region.
Green Mountain Power Director of Communications Kristin Kelly said the vast majority of the utility’s customers who were affected by the storm have power back on, but the utility is preparing for more outages due to gusty winds tonight. Of the 275,000 Green Mountain Power customers in the state, crews restored power for a total 8,900 homes as of Monday afternoon, Kelly said.
“Crews have made really great progress since the ice began to accumulate in some locations, causing damage,” she said.
Tire tracks are seen in slush and snow in Underhill during an ice and rain storm on Monday, Dec. 29. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger
Louis Porter, general manager of Washington Electric Co-op which serves central Vermont, said the utility had restored around 4,000 customers’ power on Monday, including repeated repairs due to subsequent outages.
“We expected to have some damage, to have some outages this morning, and we had extra crews come in, and we had our line crews start at five o’clock this morning,” Porter said. “It’s been a challenging restoration, in large part because the roads were so difficult to get to.”
Along with hazardous road work conditions, especially in rural areas, Porter said ice is not loosening from trees as quickly as expected due to freezing temperatures, and projected winds overnight could cause more outages.
“We are hopeful to get all these current outages restored today, but as more come in, obviously, that extends the outage,” Porter said. “We’re still seeing additional incidents come in, so crews are going to continue working.”
