Funny you should mention that.
I lost power last Thursday night and got it back late Sunday. Temps went as low as 15F (-10C). It was a long, cold, dark weekend here. I'm on a private well system, so I lost water pressure too.
Yes, I have emergency supplies and wasn't in life-threatening danger, but it was an extremely uncomfortable few days. It went something like this: One minute you're relaxing on the sofa reading a book; the next you're thrust into an unannounced, unplanned winter camping trip of unknown duration. Surprise!
During that time, I was offline. (The blog here can auto-update with material I've banked in advance against just such exigencies.) But I took notes and storm photos, and you'll see some of those in the coming days. One thing about an ice storm: It's incredibly beautiful--- a crystalline, prismatic world.
OK, it's cold, too.
In all, it's New Hampshire's worst power outage ever. It's still going on: About 1/4 the State is still without power, and the outlying areas could take 2 more weeks to get reconnected. We had about an inch (25mm) of ice accumulate on everything.
The amount of tree damage is phenomenal. The first night of the storm, the forest was wracked with the almost continual sound of trees splitting with gunshot-loud cracks, followed by the whooshing fall and thud as ice-laden trees and limbs gave way.
Today, major numbered highways still have closures and danger areas where trees lean across the highway, supported only by inert power lines. Electrical and communications service trucks are out in convoys and packs.
Between last summer's tornado that chewed up 50 miles of forest and this ice storm, someone must have angered Woden or some other ancient tree gods. Payback's a dark, cold, shivery bitch, ain't it?
Here are a few photos; a taste:
The grass ended up looking like coral:
Everything was ghostly white:
The night after the storm, a full moon rose behind the icy trees. There were no external lights, so the sky was unusually dark, the only illumination coming from the moon and the stars (you can see a few stars in the upper left of the photo):
Today, I'm catching up on an overdue Windows Secrets column. More storm photos soon!
(PS: Kind of appropriate this is published on Wednesday, "Woden's Day" eh? It's the revenge of the Norse gods!)
Fred,
ReplyDeleteYes ice storms are beautiful and potentially deadly. I can't wait for more pictures.
Back in the early '90s, Rochester, NY had an ice storm that knocked out the power for over a week for many people. Although we were lucky that after the storm the temperature *rose* above freezing so no ones pipes were in danger. Very Lucky!
Randy
Gorgeous pictures, but yes, very dangerous. Glad you survived.
ReplyDelete>> (The blog here can auto-update with material I've banked
ReplyDelete>> in advance against just such exigencies.)
How do you do that, Fred?
Ref: Rochester NY's 1991 ice storm.
ReplyDeleteSome people didn't get power back for a MONTH!!
And a few never lost it thanks to underground utilities.
I remember well the sounds Fred described of the trees breaking and crashing to the ground. Considering the frequency and duration of the sounds I was amazed any trees were left after the storm. It was incredible. So I am well aware of what you experienced Fred.
Ed
>> (The blog here can auto-update with material I've banked
ReplyDelete>> in advance against just such exigencies.)
That's a Blogger function, Greg, You can load an item and schedule its release for a future time/date.
I generally try to have something ready for every day. If a better "something" comes along, I'll insert the new item, and push the preloaded stuff back a day.
It doesn't always work. ;-)
But it mostly does.
Mostly.
PS:
ReplyDeleteToday, right now:
=============
... Winter Weather Advisory remains in effect until 3 PM EST this afternoon...
Expect a light coating of ice through mid afternoon. Snowfall
totals will be 3 to 5 inches.
A Winter Weather Advisory means that periods of snow or freezing
rain will cause travel difficulties. Be prepared for snow covered roads... light accumulations of ice and limited visibilities... and use
caution while driving.
... Freezing rain will make for icy conditions early this afternoon...
An area of light freezing rain will continue to expand over
southeast New Hampshire and southwest Maine through the early to mid afternoon hours. Look for a light coating of ice to
accumulate on trees and power lines. A few towns that will be
affected by the ice includes Portland... Sanford... Portsmouth... Dover
and Concord. Temperatures will remain in the 20s.
===============
And there are two more storms lined up after this one....
>> That's a Blogger function, Greg, You can load an item and
ReplyDelete>> schedule its release for a future time/date.
Really?! Where? I ask because I have a personal blog where this would come in handy. I've looked at the settings and can't see a scheduling option anywhere.
Sorry to distract you from your Windows Secrets column ... :-(
Oops! Should have specified that my blog is with Blogger.com (like yours).
ReplyDelete- Greg
Click "post options" in the bottom of the compose window, above the "publish post" button.
ReplyDeleteHere in the Wolfeboro area we were fortunate - only about 4 hours offline, though the ice made things interesting...
ReplyDelete>> Click "post options" in the bottom of the compose window,
ReplyDelete>> above the "publish post" button.
Wow! I never saw that. *blush* Thanx, Fred ...! :-)
BTW, I should have mentioned right from the start of my comments that I empathize entirely with your experience when southern Quebec (my part of the world), eastern Ontario and the U.S. Northcountry were hit with a similar storm in 1998. Even 10 years later, one can still see the broken branches in places once the leaves have fallen in the autumn.
I will never forget how so many hydro linemen arrived with their trucks from New Hampshire (along with other northern US states) and the Canadian maritime provinces to come to our aid ... I hope that we were able to return the favor this time around.
While doing some googling of ice storms, I came across this site which documents (in photos) an ice storm that hit Nebraska and Kansas in December 2006:
http://www.extremeinstability.com/06-12-31.htm
I didn't know about that 2006 storm, but the images are all too familiar to me ... and now to you, I bet.
BTW, if you go to the home page of that site, you will see a nice image of a tornado. It got me thinking of your storm chasing trip this past year. You certainly are getting your fill of wild weather!!
- Greg