With the heaviest rain and strong wind gusts through New England, the risk of new flooding drops except along some of our rivers, where runoff will continue to raise water levels in the coming 24-48 hours with some rivers reaching minor flood stages in Central and Southern New England.  Wind gusts peaked from the south at 76 mph at the Blue Hill Observatory – our nation’s oldest continuous weather observatory – just prior to 3 AM Monday, but with the storm center now east of New England over the Gulf of Maine, no new strong or damaging gusts are expected.  That said, the attendant cold front with the storm opened the door to colder air to pour in today – mostly for drying conditions by midday and afternoon in Central and Southern New England, but the cold arrived in time for a change to heavy snow in Vermont, the North Country of NH and the mountains of ME to Northern ME, where four to six inches of snow has already fallen and snow totals will range between four and ten inches by late Monday.  Monday afternoon’s low tide actually may be defined by notably low water levels in some coastal communities – particularly along the South Coast.  The arrival of cooler air won’t come quickly enough into Central and Southern New England to raise concerns for road ice overnight Monday night, as roads should dry before overnight lows dip to either side of 30.  Tuesday and Wednesday bring sun and clouds with highs either side of 40 for New England, with a few Tuesday night snow showers possible in Northern New England, then again Wednesday with the passage of a cold front.  That cold front delivers the coolest air of the week on Thursday, when high temperatures will hold in the 30s even under a fair sky, but this cold is short-lived as New England pushes 50 in spots again by Friday.  Overall, quiet weather continues for the six-state region until perhaps later Sunday, when a chance of rain showers south and snow showers north returns.  For now, with our 10-day forecast running through December 20, the window for hopes of a White Christmas in Southern New England is closing.  We do have a couple of disturbances likely to ripple through the jet stream winds aloft somewhere around the 24^th and again somewhere centered around the 26^th (of course, timing is very flexible this far out), but no signals of substantial cold air associated with them.  Nonetheless, our First Alert Team will keep you posted!