(Host) Get ready for another soaker.
Several inches of rain are expected through the end of the day, thanks to tropical moisture that’s being drawn into the region.
Flood watches are in the forecast. But, as VPR’s Ross Sneyd reports, some weather-dependent businesses say that won’t slow them down.
(Sneyd) Bike Vermont has five bicycle tours on the road right now.
Owner Larry Niles says it takes a lot to persuade his customers to abandon their bikes.
(Niles) “Most of them will ride in anything but a deluge. And then we get them – people are pretty friendly – get them in a barn or somebody’s front porch or whatever and then they’ll ride some more. They book tours quite a bit in advance, so they’re not likely to simply decide at the last minute not to come on a tour because of bad weather.”
(Sneyd) There’s been plenty of rain this summer and Niles says it seems his tours have gotten hit hardest by late afternoon downpours.
But that hasn’t hurt business.
(Niles) “Our business in Vermont is up – I just calculated a couple of days ago – is up 24 percent over last year. So it hasn’t hurt us.”
(Sneyd) Still, when people are out on the road on two wheels, Niles tries to protect them from the worst of the storms.
So he keeps one eye on the skies and another on weather reports.
(Niles) “We keep an eye on it. I make sure that the leaders who are on tour with groups know about it in advance. In this particular instance, we’ve got a tour up in the Islands, North Hero, we’re going to keep a good watch on that.”
(Sneyd) He’ll have to. There could be another three inches of rain.
And the ground won’t be able to absorb it all because there’s already been so much.
Peter Banacos is the lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Vermont. He says gauges show the Lamoille and Passumpsic rivers already running high.
(Banacos) “It’s not unheard of to see that for July. It is somewhat on the unusual side. Again, a contributing factor to what we’re seeing upcoming is the fact that we’ve had several days now of the shower and thunderstorm activity and that’s sort of a primer for what we see upcoming.”
(Sneyd) Heavy rain may last well into the night. Then it’ll take a while for all of the runoff to be absorbed. The Weather Service says river levels should begin to recede late Thursday.
After that, the forecast calls for at least a few days of mostly dry weather.
For VPR News, I’m Ross Sneyd.