Updated 6:03 p.m.
More than 30,000 Vermonters woke up Monday morning without electrical power after heavy snowfall blanketed much of the state, according to data from VTOutages.org, a website that tracks power outages in Vermont.
Washington and Lamoille counties were among the heaviest hit by the storm, with each receiving an average of 8.3 inches of snowfall, according to data provided by the National Weather Service. Counties across the Northeast Kingdom and central Vermont averaged just over 6 inches of snowfall.
“This was a case where even areas that didn’t see much in the way of snow depth had a lot of liquid in the snow, so the weight of the snow was quite high,” said Seth Kuticoff, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service station in Burlington. “So that’s what we’re seeing, the accumulation of that heavy snow on lines.”
Although officials from utility companies said they were working quickly to restore power, more than 9,100 Vermonters were still affected by the outages late Monday, according to VTOutages.org.
“The storm came in overnight. We knew this was coming. We had external resources in addition to our own, and so as soon as the outages began, we started restoring power,” said Kristin Kelly, Green Mountain Power’s director of communications. Green Mountain Power expected to restore power for most of its customers by the end of the day on Monday, she said.
As of noon on Monday, Green Mountain Power still had 15,000 customers without power, according to data on the company’s website.
Vermont Electric Cooperative still had around 2,400 customers without power and said that some customers may not see their electricity restored until Tuesday due to the weather conditions.
“These outages are widespread and because field conditions are tough, restoration for some areas is taking time,” Jake Brown, energy services planner for the cooperative, said in a press release.
The Washington Electric Cooperative had just over 6,000 customers without power as of noon on Monday, according to VTOutages.org.
The National Weather Service had issued a winter weather advisory through 1 p.m. Monday, but canceled it Monday morning after the storm dissipated.
“The storm has moved out, so at this point we are not expecting any additional widespread precipitation,” Kuticoff said. “Aside from that, in Vermont, we’re definitely looking at more quiet weather over this next stretch, with maybe some scattered snow showers.”
Correction: an earlier version of this story misspelled Seth Kutikoff’s name.
