Vermont, 2003

Flooding in Vermont, October 29, 2003

October 29, 2003 · NWS BTV · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

An area of low pressure over the New York City area on the morning of Wednesday, October 29th moved rapidly northeast across New England. Heavy rain tapered off to showers in the afternoon.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
$10,000
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS BTV wrote it up.

An area of low pressure over the New York City area on the morning of Wednesday, October 29th moved rapidly northeast across New England. Heavy rain tapered off to showers in the afternoon. The soil was saturated from previous rainfall. Streams and rivers rose rapidly with a few resulting in some flooding. In particular, the Browns river resulted in minor flooding.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Burlington, VT wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 28, 4:59 PM EST, 19 hours 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 28, 4:59 PM EST, 19 hours 1 minute before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Eastern Chittenden

When
October 29, 12:00 PM EST to 5:00 PM EST
Where
Eastern Chittenden forecast zone
Property damage
$5,000
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
44.461, -73.081 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flood, Western Chittenden

When
October 29, 12:00 PM EST to 5:00 PM EST
Where
Western Chittenden forecast zone
Property damage
$5,000
Reported by
EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates
44.461, -73.081 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Flood
Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Vermont in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Vermont, October 2003

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5372356, 5372357.