Halloween Storm 2011: The storm that shut down the northeast

Hey all! Since I'm not seeing very many threads about the winter storm that us north-easterners have just suffered, I've decided to make a thread showing some of the destruction that the storm left in its wake. I'm assuming the lack of threads is due to many people still being without power, as large parts of the northeast are still crippled and without power. Throughout this post, I will narrate some of the pictures I've taken over the past 44 hours that I haven't had power.

The morning of the storm (Saturday, October 29), my sister and I went to work. It hadn't started snowing yet, and it was a beautiful blue-skied day. We work in a grocery store (she's a cashier, and I'm a cashier department head) and when we got there, it was absolutely packed. Usually, when a meteorologist even whispers the word 'storm', it gets insanely busy. However, it was more than just insanely busy. Shelves were emptying, and it was hard to move around the store. While I cannot say what our sales were, by noon we had already passed our average daily sales. A few hours later, and we had already doubled how much we sell on our normal busy weekend days. When it finally started to snow (around 2pm), the store began to slow down, and a few hours later we barely had anyone shopping.

My sister and I got off work the same time, and left for home (13 miles away). The streets were barely plowed, and there were branches blocking off half of the road every few minutes. We were fortunate to be behind a snowplow, as it was very slick out, and the roads are very curvy anyways.

As you can see, half of the road isn't even plowed.

And parts of the road were blocked by tree branches, most of which the plows pushed off the roads when they weren't too big. Other branches, weighed down by the weight of the leaves, hung over the side of the road, causing drivers to swerve to avoid hitting them.


That night, around 8pm, we lost power. The next morning, we awoke to a large accumulation of snow:


We decided to go out and see if there were any gas stations open, and the whole way, there were a lot of trees blocking the roads, with small paths around them to drive through.






We passed quite a few homes that were largely affected by the falling trees:




When we finally got to the gas station (a 30 minute drive that usually only takes 10), we began to realize the impact of the snow storm, and how gas was quickly turning into a precious resource (not that it isn't already). As I'm posting this, there's a 3-hour wait time to get gas, and only 7 gallons per customer.


On our way back, I managed to get some pictures of the culprits behind the power outages:




Two large, and very much alive, trees fell down in our back yard, which we're currently cleaning up:




At least the cats are having fun.....




Well, ATS, I hope this has opened your eyes to some of the devastation up here, since the MSM is doing a very poor job of it at the moment (I see lots of OWS and political drama in the headlines, and a very small part dedicated to the northeast).
There are still hundreds of thousands without power, grocery stores and gas stations selling out, and towns completely shut down. Thankfully my small western MA town has a lot of energetic individuals with chainsaws, so our roads are cleared and safe to drive on. But those who are stuck in their homes still need the thoughts and prayers of the rest of the nation as we try to recover from what apparently doesn't warrant federal disaster aid, despite the fact that utility crews from as far as Texas are coming up here to aid in the recovery.

Thank you for reading this post! I must now go take a nice, warm shower (a luxury I have not enjoyed in a few days).

reply to post by MrFake


I love weather like that. It keeps unprepared people inside so you can actually enjoy yourself.

Such a freaky storm so early in the year. My mom is in Massachusetts and told me today that she'll be without power for about 5 days. I have other relatives up farther north and they were hit hard, too and are without power, possibly even longer.

My mom doesn't have a car charger for her cellphone, so I told her she better go out and get one today as her car will be her only source of power for quite a while.

I hope this isn't a small taste of what will come--the northeast has been hit hard recently with all sorts of unusual weather. Not that snow is unusual but growing up there my whole life, the earliest I can remember any significant amount of snow was right before thanksgiving and one small dusting on November 6th.

reply to post by MrFake


Pretty crazy storm, nice pictures, thanks for sharing! I was curious to see if the crazy storm had any relation to the solar storm and auroras seen at very low latitudes last week.

this storm didnt shut down the hole north east. the coast lines and southern part of the north east is fine. as will the effected areas. the snow wont last with fall temps persisting. a freak and strange storm it was though!!!!

reply to post by CoherentlyConfused


I'm in the Westfield area, so if your mother is anywhere near here, she might get power back soon. There's hope!

And yeah, I'm sick of this weird weather. First a tornado that started 2 miles from my home, then the hurricane, and now snow on Halloween? Mother nature's gotta calm down lol..

I'm glad for you it has stopped.

This kind of (snow) ice storm could really cause a lot of damage if it persist over a couples of days.
In 1998 we've been trough a huge ice storm which became a disaster here in Quebec, Canada.

The North American ice storm of 1998 (also known as Great Ice Storm of 1998 and Great Ice Storm '98) was a massive combination of five smaller successive ice storms which combined to strike a relatively narrow swath of land from eastern Ontario to southern Quebec to Nova Scotia in Canada, and bordering areas from northern New York to central Maine in the United States, in January 1998. It caused massive damage to trees and electrical infrastructure all over the area, leading to widespread long-term power outages. Millions were left in the dark for periods varying from days to weeks, leading to more than 30 fatalities, a shut down of activities in large cities like Montreal and Ottawa, and an unprecedented effort in reconstruction of the power grid. The ice storm led to the largest deployment of Canadian military personnel since the Korean War, with over 15,000 Canadian Forces personnel deployed in Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick at the height of the crisis.

Wikipedia

Ice, another subtile and powerful aspect of nature.

Very impressive! (Both the storm and the footage/documentation you provided.)
Just a reminder of the 86 some-odd inches we're expecting for Chicago this winter.

Go figure... strange weather during the most prophesied time in human history.

I suppose that is pretty early and unexpected.

Around here we call that SSDD. pretty much the same stuff for a very long time. often much worse.

One of the preps lists in the survival section has winter oriented items. We tend to stock the usual food and things but also stock kerosene, candles and a few cans of de-icer as well as scrapers and things for when the supplies run out. The alcohol and TP heaters work like you wouldnt believe when its freezing outside. vent well.

we had one similar here in Duluth MN in 1991: www.msnbc.msn.com... it was a killer of a storm, shut the whole city down damn near. I remember the wind was so bad off of Lake Superior we had 6 foot drifts easy in most areas. Best of luck to you East coasters, been there, done that, and feel for ya.

The issue with this storm was not ice, it was the fact that mother nature itself wasn't prepared for it.

The night following the storm, I will never forget the sound of standing outside with literally no lights or electricity for miles in every direction, and the sound of whole trees collapsing around me every 30 seconds to a minute.

The trees still had their leaves and held onto all the snow and thus the extra weight was enough to do what most regular snow storms could never hope to do, and thus is why there was so much damage to electrical lines.

Power was just restored to my area this afternoon, but I know many thousands are still without. Anyone who can pass this off as just another storm and another "natural" thing, is deluded. It has opened a lot of peoples eyes to the idea that something in the world is changing and it is changing fast, and it isn't 'global warming'.

reply to post by gwydionblack


Exactly. So many live and healthy trees have fallen all over the place, all just because they were still filled with leaves. It's quite tragic, really. And incredibly odd. This is the worst storm I've ever seen.
It was definitely a good thing for my family, though. Throughout the 44 hours we didn't have power, we made an extensive list of things we will have ready the next time this happens. It really opened our eyes as to how truly unprepared we were.

reply to post by MrFake

Wow! Amazing pics...thank you for sharing them. Glad to know that you and your family are okay. The weather patterns we're seeing are so unpredictable and uncommon. Luckily for me, my area was barely on the fringes of this monster and we only saw a little light now that didn't even stick to the ground. It's hard to imagine a snow like this at this time of year. Thanks again for sharing.

reply to post by MrFake


Wow you guys got nailed. I'm near the coast so we only got about an inch which melted by noon-time Sunday. We didn't lose our power which really surprized me. Those were some huge gusts!

Originally posted by Evolutionsend
reply to post by MrFake

 

I love weather like that. It keeps unprepared people inside so you can actually enjoy yourself.

If you're born and raised in New England you're automatically prepared for a Nor' Easter. I think it's in our DNA haha A foot of snow is a joke. A foot & an a half is business as usual I know what you mean though, I hate it when those who can't drive in the snow go to work anyway! They are the ones who should just stay home!

Great pics, S&F. I have relatives all over the East who've been affected, including one in MA who's responsible for maintaining DOT trucks and plowing. And he's probably the only one who is always prepared for when the SHTF.
Back in '78 I was cashiering in a mid-size supermarket in NJ and can personally attest to what kind of pandaemonium ensued just a few hours after a blizzard started that dumped snow an inch an hour. Luckily I had a four wheel drive vehicle!

Just spoke with a local tree service company I know fairly well. Over 200 calls already since the storm. That is just one company here in Pa. Power going to be out in some areas until at least Thursday or Friday.

I was here in eastern PA locked and loaded with my new generator and never needed to use it. We had a couple of flickers with the power but nothing more. Our neighbors on the other hand; are still without power as of this morning.

Local news is stating that some will be without power until this weekend. It was beautiful to see the snow, but really this was too early in the season. We still have school districts and Colleges off today due to the power outages.

A_L

Still no power in NW Jersey. They officially postponed Halloween until Friday. My house was 43 degrees INSIDE this morning. They are saying we should be up and running by Monday. This is twice in only a few months where we haven't had power for 5+ days. Prior to this, we hadn't lost power for more than a few hours in ten years!! Crazy. If this is any indication of what we're in for in the coming months, it's going to be a long winter.

Originally posted by gwydionblack
The issue with this storm was not ice, it was the fact that mother nature itself wasn't prepared for it.

Believe me ice is strong enough to get theses trees down with or without leaves.

In 1998 Hydro-Quebec electric tower fell litterally under the weight of ice accumulated.
And i don't even talk about trees.

There's a pic or two for you to see.

tower fell under ice