HoarfrostHubb Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 2008 is it for me since I wasn't alive in '78...my parents had just started dating back then, lol. My mom actually got trapped at my Dad's pad in Boston because of the '78 storm, she went straight to his place from work since she lived in Arlington but worked downtown in the state building for the Governor (I think Dukakis at the time)...and decided it would be easier to get to my Dad's place in Boston rather than try and get back to Arlington (she parked in a garage at the building instead of riding the rail)...and ended stranded at my Dad's for about 6 days. Cool story anyway. 2008 was sickening damage...Dec 1992 was kind of close here (I think you said you were in Lowell at the time)...but Dec 1992 shut down the entire city of ORH for literally 3-4 business days even though though the storm started Friday and ended on Saturday night...everything was closed from Mon-Wed and many were closed Thursday too. Yeah, I was living in Lowell and it was certainly a fun storm.But to get 35"+ like they probably did here would be top 5 for sureI think Lowell had 18" or so Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Rain Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Yeah, the lasting effects of a few storms last winter was memorable, to say the least. 1978 closed schools for a week. All roads in CT were closed except to emergency vehicles - and there was widespread damage on the coast. Oct 2011 had a major impact, but probably not as widespread, but it hit CT hard in some spots. There was an ice storm in '74 (I think). I have vague recollections of being able to actually use flexible flyer runner sleds since the ice was so thick. No power for at least a few days. I don't remember 1888. Yeah there were some areas in CT that saw very little from Oct 2011. So 1978 was more widespread with heavy impact though western CT did not see as much of an impact and southern and eastern parts of the state. The wind was vicious though so you had very impressive drifting even where you had less than 20". The fact so many people were stranded turned the storm into a legendary one for many. Had the storm occurred on a weekend it probably would have had much less of an impact (if it happened 20 years later the number of 4WD/AWD cars would have alleviated some of the issues too). I would probably edge 1978 over 2011 in CT particularly because it was more widespread and impacted everyone. The two are in the same league, however, something that CT hasn't been able to say in over 30 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NECT Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 You are thinking of the Dec 16, 1973 ice storm if you were in CT at the time...that was the worst ice storm there in the past 50 years minimum...possibly 100 years. The 2008 ice storm here had local effects worse than Oct 2011 and I think part of the reason Oct 2011 wasn't as bad was because of the Dec 2008 ice storm...it pruned so many large vulnerable branches that weren't there to get ripped off in 2011 like in the lowest parts of ORH and obviously down in Hartford and including Kevin's Tolland CT...most of CT except higher spots in Litchfield county avoided much damage in Dec 2008. Oct 2011 still had some good damage here, but it could have been so much worse if 2008 hadn't happened before it...but of course we went through the disaster 3 years earlier with people not having pwoer for 7-14 days around here back then. Most people in this area in October got it back within 5 days this time. I was out for about 60 hours. Must have been 12/73. I was 5, so I have vague memories. Oct 2011 was really bad not for from me. We got about 8" which did a lot of damage, but noting like the war zones N/W of me, and nothing like your ice storm in 2008. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Rain Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Must have been 12/73. I was 5, so I have vague memories. Oct 2011 was really bad not for from me. We got about 8" which did a lot of damage, but noting like the war zones N/W of me, and nothing like your ice storm in 2008. Yeah the damage in some parts of the Farmington Valley was just unreal. On par with some of the stuff I saw in Massachusetts after the 2008 ice storm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Yeah there were some areas in CT that saw very little from Oct 2011. So 1978 was more widespread with heavy impact though western CT did not see as much of an impact and southern and eastern parts of the state. The wind was vicious though so you had very impressive drifting even where you had less than 20". The fact so many people were stranded turned the storm into a legendary one for many. Had the storm occurred on a weekend it probably would have had much less of an impact (if it happened 20 years later the number of 4WD/AWD cars would have alleviated some of the issues too). I would probably edge 1978 over 2011 in CT particularly because it was more widespread and impacted everyone. The two are in the same league, however, something that CT hasn't been able to say in over 30 years. At least in the metro-Boston area I disagree. AWD doesn't help if the roads are full of stuck semis, etc. But the weekend thing, maybe. Also, today the forecast might have kept more people at home Plows are not much different than they were back then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Yeah the damage in some parts of the Farmington Valley was just unreal. On par with some of the stuff I saw in Massachusetts after the 2008 ice storm. That damage in the Farmington valley was on par with the ice storm damage here I saw in ORH county...I'm not sure if it was as widespread in arial coverage but the fact it covered such a large population made it just as impressive. I think the two storms are awesome in showing the power of two different things....first the power was 12"+ wet snow with leaves on the trees and the absolute destructive power of ice without leaves. (IIRC you covered some of the damage in 2008 in Holden, MA because you called me asking where to go). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Will, did you ever get a copy of this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NECT Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Yeah the damage in some parts of the Farmington Valley was just unreal. On par with some of the stuff I saw in Massachusetts after the 2008 ice storm. I could drive 10 miles S or E and buy gas for the generator I borrowed from my brother, go to a bank, or grocery store. It must have been a crazy few out in the Farmington/Avon/Simsbury/W. Hartford world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Will, did you ever get a copy of this? No I've never seen it. I thought about writing a book on it though, lol. I probably will someday after I'm done with my SNE snowstorm book that Phil and I will eventually do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 No I've never seen it. I thought about writing a book on it though, lol. I probably will someday after I'm done with my SNE snowstorm book that Phil and I will eventually do. Tip could write the prologue... ... of course that might be longer than the book itself Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Rain Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 That damage in the Farmington valley was on par with the ice storm damage here I saw in ORH county...I'm not sure if it was as widespread in arial coverage but the fact it covered such a large population made it just as impressive. I think the two storms are awesome in showing the power of two different things....first the power was 12"+ wet snow with leaves on the trees and the absolute destructive power of ice without leaves. (IIRC you covered some of the damage in 2008 in Holden, MA because you called me asking where to go). Yup I was in Holden a couple days after... and shortly after the storm I was up in the high terrain up on the east slope of the Berks. You are correct that the extent of the damage wasn't terribly widespread. What was remarkable about the snowstorm damage was that the worst damage was in the lower elevations and highly/densely populated areas. Once you got up above 700 or 800 feet the snow was a bit fluffier and you had less leaves on the trees in general. Imagine ice with leaves lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Rain Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I could drive 10 miles S or E and buy gas for the generator I borrowed from my brother, go to a bank, or grocery store. It must have been a crazy few out in the Farmington/Avon/Simsbury/W. Hartford world. Yeah it was nuts. Definitely my most memorable snowstorm for the exceptional damage, 10 days without power, and the pure awesomeness of the meteorology. It was by far the most anomalous storm I've ever forecasted. I honestly couldn't believe I was saying the kinds of things I was on the air that morning before the snow started falling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Yup I was in Holden a couple days after... and shortly after the storm I was up in the high terrain up on the east slope of the Berks. You are correct that the extent of the damage wasn't terribly widespread. What was remarkable about the snowstorm damage was that the worst damage was in the lower elevations and highly/densely populated areas. Once you got up above 700 or 800 feet the snow was a bit fluffier and you had less leaves on the trees in general. Imagine ice with leaves lol. I was actually going to add this line at the end, but didnt, lol...you thought like me...we will probably never see it in our lifetimes, but one day an October ice storm might happen...whether its 100 year or 2,000 years from now no matter what any of us think about global warming or what not. One day there will be an airmass so anomalous or the climate shifts and there is a 2008 ice storm with leaves...imagine that? Both storms show the power of nature with or without leaves...but the ice is just darn destructive on a rate basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 The closest thing I saw to the 2008 power outages previously was December 1992 previously where the southern ORH county towns got destroyed because the snow stayed wetter. Towns like Auburn and Douglas and Uxbridge and Charlton MA were destroyed in that via the power grids. If you look it up on google you probably can find some good info. ORH actually "lucked out" in that one despite lots of power outages in that the heaviest snow on late Friday night was more like a 28-29F snow vs like 31-33F just tot he south while the sfc front hung there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Awesome video Ryan. better than milking cows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Youngsters like weatherMA and ma_blizzard would have been in nirvana in ORH during Dec 1992 since school was out until Thursday or Friday despite the fact the storm started Friday and ended late Sat night into early Sunday morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherMA Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Ryan, awesome coverage. I really want some snow after watching some of that video lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OKpowdah Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Will, did you ever get a copy of this? I read a little of it in a coffee shop in Keene. The author went to Keene High School and wrote for the Sentinel (the local paper) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Rain Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Here's more octosno porn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I read a little of it in a coffee shop in Keene. The author went to Keene High School and wrote for the Sentinel (the local paper) It's not the best book, but it gives some cool anectodal stuff. Very little met info. Some people we know are quoted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherMA Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Youngsters like weatherMA and ma_blizzard would have been in nirvana in ORH during Dec 1992 since school was out until Thursday or Friday despite the fact the storm started Friday and ended late Sat night into early Sunday morning. It's coming 3/3 to 3/10. Watch out . Seriously though, the best thing I've had in my young life was after the 10/29 snowstorm on that Saturday afternoon/night we were out of school Monday/Tuesday. We also had the famous "double snowday" last year where people were hoping for 3 snow days from 2/1 to 2/3 of 2011. That was when the first storm really trended into the major one with 6-8" for a lot of people when originally the second one was supposed to be the dominant one. That was when stations through out 18-24" amounts...and that busted but it was still enough for double snowdays. Besides that though I can only remember getting single snowdays. On 12/13/07 we got out of school early and I remember watching flurries fall in 8th grade English last period before we got let out at noon...and by the time I got home it was 1-2" down and a whiteout. I remember being on the news the next day for being the only school without a delay the next morning. Also there was the 2/10/10 bust where we were supposed to get 8-14" and many schools let out early and we ended up with 3" of fluff that night after just flurries and snow showers in the afternoon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Ryan, that is pretty good coverage man...you were actually one of the first TV mets to go gung ho on that storm for both your market and BOS market...that was a big thing, non of the TV mets wanted to pull the trigger...but you did a pretty good job on pulling it even though it killed you to do it with Kevin's floating head in your mind, lol...just kidding. That is some good video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OKpowdah Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Good stuff Ryan. Mind blowing. Absolutely incredible Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorEastermass128 Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Ryan, that is pretty good coverage man...you were actually one of the first TV mets to go gung ho on that storm for both your market and BOS market...that was a big thing, non of the TV mets wanted to pull the trigger...but you did a pretty good job on pulling it even though it killed you to do it with Kevin's floating head in your mind, lol...just kidding. That is some good video. Yeah...that's real good video. Those big storms can be good scouting video for some of the big markets I'd bet. Apply to WBZ4 Boston and get Gutner outta here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 It's coming 3/3 to 3/10. Watch out . Seriously though, the best thing I've had in my young life was after the 10/29 snowstorm on that Saturday afternoon/night we were out of school Monday/Tuesday. We also had the famous "double snowday" last year where people were hoping for 3 snow days from 2/1 to 2/3 of 2011. That was when the first storm really trended into the major one with 6-8" for a lot of people when originally the second one was supposed to be the dominant one. That was when stations through out 18-24" amounts...and that busted but it was still enough for double snowdays. Besides that though I can only remember getting single snowdays. On 12/13/07 we got out of school early and I remember watching flurries fall in 8th grade English last period before we got let out at noon...and by the time I got home it was 1-2" down and a whiteout. I remember being on the news the next day for being the only school without a delay the next morning. Also there was the 2/10/10 bust where we were supposed to get 8-14" and many schools let out early and we ended up with 3" of fluff that night after just flurries and snow showers in the afternoon. I was lucky in getting multiple snow days in a row so many times...obviously Dec 1992...we got 2 in a row in March 1993 later that winter too even though the storm was less impactful here and ended at the same time (predawn hours Sunday morning)....but it was was still 21" of snow. But it was underforecast here like Dec 1992...they said 7-14" of snow for March 1993 and said 20" would be west of us. Then I got a dual snowdays off in Jan 1994 when we had back to back storms overrunning us on Jan 7-8 I think, i could be off a bit on the dates...the storm wasn't very memorable so that's why I could be off on the date. The day it started we got off, but we probably could have gone to school, it didn't start until about 8am...but it lasted a long time and it flipped to sleet and maybe even ZR for a time before going back to snow..long duration storm. Like a 36-40 hour deal. Then we actually got 2 days off in blizzard of 1996 even though we were too far north for the jackpot...we got crushed on Monday morning....but we already had a 20" snow pack before that storm happened...so they cancelled Tuesday even though the snow stopped around midnight that monday night into tuesday...because the sidewalks and side streets were so poorly plowed and shoveled that they had to call it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I missed at least 2 weeks (probably more like 3) due to the Blizzard of 78 My school's roof caved in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Actually longer out of school for me... over 3 weeks! From The Foxboro Reporter: "It would be three full weeks before the students would return to school. It took two weeks to clear the school grounds and clear snow from the buildings. But it was further decided to leave the April vacation in place as planned. State law mandates 180 days or 900 hours of school. Foxboro had a longer school day than most towns, and only had to extend the school year by one day to satisfy state requirements. For students in the former Lewis School on Mechanic Street, it would be even longer before they got back to their regular classrooms, as the school roof collapsed under the weight of the storm. Repairs were delayed when it was realized that changes made during construction had dropped the roof below state safety standards, so students would be temporarily housed in the Igo School Administration Center, now Igo Elementary School, displacing several town and civic agencies that also shared the space." Link to the story: http://www.foxbororeporter.com/articles/2011/03/06/features/8818235.txt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weatherMA Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 I was lucky in getting multiple snow days in a row so many times...obviously Dec 1992...we got 2 in a row in March 1993 later that winter too even though the storm was less impactful here and ended at the same time (predawn hours Sunday morning)....but it was was still 21" of snow. But it was underforecast here like Dec 1992...they said 7-14" of snow for March 1993 and said 20" would be west of us. Then I got a dual snowdays off in Jan 1994 when we had back to back storms overrunning us on Jan 7-8 I think, i could be off a bit on the dates...the storm wasn't very memorable so that's why I could be off on the date. The day it started we got off, but we probably could have gone to school, it didn't start until about 8am...but it lasted a long time and it flipped to sleet and maybe even ZR for a time before going back to snow..long duration storm. Like a 36-40 hour deal. Then we actually got 2 days off in blizzard of 1996 even though we were too far north for the jackpot...we got crushed on Monday morning....but we already had a 20" snow pack before that storm happened...so they cancelled Tuesday even though the snow stopped around midnight that monday night into tuesday...because the sidewalks and side streets were so poorly plowed and shoveled that they had to call it. I feel like we've had less long duration storms lately...any truth to that? It just seems like most snowstorms last 12-18 hours regardless of amounts and then they're done. Anyway, last winter was awesome because even when it looked like rain, events somehow turned wintry. I remember that happened on 2/25 and again on 2/28-3/1. Both of them trended more wintry and 2/25 I believe was snow to rain back to snow. And then 2/28 looked like rain but we got a good period of zr I believe on top of like the 10-15" of snow still remaining. I can still picture that...it looked amazing. Then we also had the 3-5" advisory event on 3/27 (edit: 2/27, March sucked). Man, last winter was awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORH_wxman Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Actually longer out of school for me... over 3 weeks! From The Foxboro Reporter: It would be three full weeks before the students would return to school. It took two weeks to clear the school grounds and clear snow from the buildings. But it was further decided to leave the April vacation in place as planned. State law mandates 180 days or 900 hours of school. Foxboro had a longer school day than most towns, and only had to extend the school year by one day to satisfy state requirements. For students in the former Lewis School on Mechanic Street, it would be even longer before they got back to their regular classrooms, as the school roof collapsed under the weight of the storm. Repairs were delayed when it was realized that changes made during construction had dropped the roof below state safety standards, so students would be temporarily housed in the Igo School Administration Center, now Igo Elementary School, displacing several town and civic agencies that also shared the space. Well February vacation went in to part of the school days off. So it made it look even more impressive than the already ridiculous amount it was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoarfrostHubb Posted February 19, 2012 Share Posted February 19, 2012 Well February vacation went in to part of the school days off. So it made it look even more impressive than the already ridiculous amount it was. Right, but my school missed the 2 weeks, the vacation, then more...probably at least another weekAnyway, a dear friend of mine (who passed away in 2010), taught in Harvard Public Schools during Feb 1969. They missed over 3 weeks (including the vacation) that year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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