A winter storm barreled through Vermont overnight, downing trees and utility poles and knocking out power for tens of thousands of homes and businesses.
According to the National Weather Service, wind gusts reached 69 mph at Burlington International Airport in South Burlington — the highest reading in the region — and topped 50 mph in other Chittenden, Addison and Rutland county towns.
“The strongest winds were definitely along the western slopes of the Green Mountains,” said Adrianna Kremer, a meteorologist in the weather service’s Burlington office.
As of 7 a.m. Wednesday, more than 28,000 customers were without power, largely in Chittenden, Addison, Franklin and Rutland counties, according to VTOutages. The greatest number of outages at that hour were in Jericho, Vt., Bristol, Vt., Hinesburg, Vt., and Middlebury, Vt.
According to Kremer, some parts of Vermont saw up to 7 inches of snow, particularly in higher terrain, but much of the state received only 2 inches of snow before it transitioned to rain overnight.
“The real issue is the slick and slushy roads from the rain following the snowfall,” Kremer said.
Several roads were closed Wednesday morning due to the storm, according to New England 511. They included Route 116 in Bristol, from Hewitt Road to River Road and from Notch Road to Quarry Road in Middlebury; Route 73 in Brandon, Vt., at Goshen Town Road, and Route 15 in Cambridge, Vt., at Wrong Way Bridge.
Wind speeds peaked between 1:30 and 2 a.m. “The main impacts of the system have largely passed through the region and will be mostly over by this morning,” Kremer said.
Many schools around the state delayed opening times and some closed entirely.