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Arctic air and rain make for dangerous driving

- By Leslie Wright -- Free Press Staff Writer -- Monday, February 24, 2003

The arrival of Arctic air created dangerous driving conditions as wet roads turned quickly to ice on Sunday afternoon.

Emergency crews scrambled to keep up with accidents into the evening as slick roads meant they too had to drive with extreme caution.

"Our officers have been pretty much tied down with accidents, most of which are minor, fender-bender kind of things," said Burlington police Lt. Tim Charland on Sunday evening. "A lot of our roads around the city are almost impassable."

Main Street, Battery Street and Colchester Avenue, all hilly streets, were particularly treacherous, Charland said.

A section of U.S. 7 in Colchester near the intersection of Severance and Blakely roads, known as Sunny Hollow, was closed for more than two hours as cars and a tractor trailer were unable to get up the steep hill, said Earl Benway, dispatcher for Colchester police.

After a morning of rain, wet roads turned quickly to ice at around 2:30 p.m. when an Arctic air mass moved into the area, said Gerald Macke, meteorological technician for the National Weather Service at the airport in South Burlington.

The temperature at the airport went from 38 degrees to 24 degrees in 30 minutes, Macke said.

Driving was difficult even for emergency vehicles. Moving along slick roads with lights on can create other traffic hazards, said Shawna Lapierre, a driver for St. Michael's Rescue.

"When they try to pull over for you they slide. Sometimes they don't stop, so you have to watch out for them," Lapierre said.
Contact Leslie Wright at 660-1841 or lwright@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com ^new ( Display, modify, or delete resource in a separate tab or window.)

Summer of crazy weather ends

- By Matt Sutkoski -- Free Press Staff Writer -- Sunday, September 22, 2002

As if on cue, weeks of chilly, wet weather abruptly became hot and humid on June 21, the start of astronomical summer. That's pretty much the way the weather stayed all summer.

Monday, the first day of astronomical autumn, the weather is predicted to abruptly turn cooler, and stay that way for the rest of the week, forecasters said.

The weather didn't exactly behave during the summer, what with the occasional severe thunderstorms, dry spells, heat waves and the odd smog alert.

Given Vermont's temperamental climate, few are expecting the weather to behave itself this fall and winter, either. The experts can't even agree on what's going to happen.

The Old Farmer's Almanac tells us to expect a lot of snow this winter, while the National Weather Service predicts another warm winter.

If summer seemed long, it's because the first 90-degree day of the year came on April 17 -- the earliest on record. The last 90-degree day of the year was Sept. 10, not the latest on record, but close.

A total of 17 days reached 90 or higher at the National Weather Service office in Burlington. Normally, Burlington has about five such days each year.

To traditionalists, summer ends on Labor Day weekend. This year, however, the temperature reached 98 degrees on Sept. 9, which made it Burlington's hottest September day on record and the hottest day of summer 2002.

Some other facts and figures from the summer in Burlington, courtesy of the National Weather Service:

-- The strongest wind gust of the season was 56 mph, which came from the northwest on June 26. The gust came during a severe thunderstorm.

-- The chilliest summer afternoon was Aug. 29, when the high temperature reached 65 degrees. The stuffiest nights for sleeping were July 1-2 and Aug. 15-16, when the low temperature was 75 degrees.

-- As of Friday, measurable rain had fallen on 32 days since June 21. The wettest day was July 8, with 1.22 inches of rain.

-- The sun shone uninterrupted from sunrise to sunset on 16 days during astronomical summer. Four days had absolutely no sunshine.

-- Thunder was heard on 15 days during the summer. Thirty-two days were hazy, and 40 days had at least a brief period of fog.

Contact Matt Sutkoski at 660-1846 or msutkosk@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com
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