Winter storm Alfred, 10/29/11

[JB4310]

Should of had a woman's name cause this one is gonna go down in the record books as a real b*tch.

Not for it's snowfall accumulation, though it breaks all records for October snow, in fact in CT they said all the Octobers snows going back over 100 years combined don't equal this one storm. But it's going to be the massive tree damage and power outages that are remembered for this one.

For some reason the trees were holding their leaves longer than normal this year, so the snow had alot more area to cling to, the branches started snapping like little bombs right away which surprised me.

There are a few threads discussing this storm already but I wanted to put the name in the title.

I'll post some pics later.

JB

 

[RoyJackson]

When did they start naming winter storms?

 

[Rustyiron]

Lost power for 10hrs or so. 13.5" on the table, a little less on the warmer ground. Trick or treat!:laughing:

 

[gmbracing]

lost power twice last night, I love the generator but all the power fail alarms are too much. BEEP BEEP BEEP!!! Got about 12 " on the ground

 

[Powerhorse]

I lost power yesterday night at 8pm. No sign of any utility trucks....generator running non stop...we got roughly 8" of heavy wet snow...the picture is at the end of my driveway.

 

[JB4310]

Well if any of you watched the nightly news tonight you saw what we are up against here. :confused2:

My yard looks like a bomb went off, Friday afternoon it looked like a golf course. I have a couple whole trees down but every other hard wood tree, mostly oaks, have lost large limbs.

Some of these trees were perfect specimens 80 to 100+ years old, most will survive but some look tattered. It's pretty sad, I really like those old trees but I think I'm lucky since there was no collateral damage to buildings or vehicles etc.

One large limb fell thru the roof of my quonset shaped fabric storage shelter. 5 inch dia branch speared straight down and thru the roof just missing 2 tractors, right between them. But this may actually be a blessing, I've been wanting to replace this old one with a larger new one. Not sure, but maybe insurance would cover the cost, though I do have a deductible.

JB

 

[Powerhorse]

Well if any of you watched the nightly news tonight you saw what we are up against here. :confused2:

My yard looks like a bomb went off, Friday afternoon it looked like a golf course. I have a couple whole trees down but every other hard wood tree, mostly oaks, have lost large limbs.

Some of these trees were perfect specimens 80 to 100+ years old, most will survive but some look tattered. It's pretty sad, I really like those old trees but I think I'm lucky since there was no collateral damage to buildings or vehicles etc.

One large limb fell thru the roof of my quonset shaped fabric storage shelter. 5 inch dia branch speared straight down and thru the roof just missing 2 tractors, right between them. But this may actually be a blessing, I've been wanting to replace this old one with a larger new one. Not sure, but maybe insurance would cover the cost, though I do have a deductible.

JB

I would have watched the news tonight but the cable is out....

 

[bellweather]

I'm in western Mass...got over 12", nearly 2' in places

 

[beltfed]

One large limb fell thru the roof of my quonset shaped fabric storage shelter. 5 inch dia branch speared straight down and thru the roof just missing 2 tractors, right between them. But this may actually be a blessing, I've been wanting to replace this old one with a larger new one. Not sure, but maybe insurance would cover the cost, though I do have a deductible.

JB

WOW, thank the tractor gods on that one. Sure would have made a nice dent somewhere if it hit one of the tractors. Time for a pole barn or something more rigid?

 

[VTFireftr]

In southern Vermont we got about 20 inches. Lost power for about 3 hours Saturday night. Since most of the trees are already bare, no major damage. We got hammered from Irene, so I guess we got it "easy" this storm.

Thankfully I had the plow ready to go on my Kioti. Problem was the wife wanted to plow, so I had to clear off the cars and trucks.

Now if we could get a few more storms like this once ski season starts!

Good luck getting your power back.

 

[Kyle241]

We're grateful we got nada up here in the Great White North (well at least Ontario!). Too early in my books for snow as it sure will make a long winter. Hopefully the power comes back soon as that sucks to be out even if one has a generator.

 

[JB4310]

We have power but most of the town doesn't, I went driving around last night and man it's weird to drive thru urban/ suburban areas which are normally brightly lit, in complete darkness. Even the main drag shopping strip.

Thank God it's at least melting slowly and not freezing, it would truly be a disaster if it was much colder.

Luckily I have help to clean up my property, tractor with forks, good chain saws, dump trailer and extra hands. Made a big dent in it yesterday, I was surprised that the dump was not packed with people, but most have not even started cleaning up, they are still dealing with their power/ fuel issues.

JB.

 

[pnhd65]

We were lucky this time, only got about 4" here.

This is what pisses me off though, begin rant: THERE SHOULDN'T BE A TREE WITHIN 50 FEET OF A POWER LINE OR A ROAD ANYWHERE!!!

This happens every year, somewhere. People will be without power for days or weeks. Utility crews will be moved across the nation to repair damage, at a cost of 'God know what'.

When 90% of this could be eliminated of we had an actual right of way maintained on our infrastructure.

We'll spend countless millions to restore power lost, and all this effort in lousy weather and conditions, rather than employ good men, in good weather to clear right of way and prevent this never ending crap!

Rant over.

 

[catdozer]

Lost power for 10hrs or so. 13.5" on the table, a little less on the warmer ground. Trick or treat!:laughing:

Rustyiron from your pics do you leave the steel tracks on for winter? Or didn't have time to take em off?

 

[Gator6x4]

We were lucky this time, only got about 4" here.

This is what pisses me off though, begin rant: THERE SHOULDN'T BE A TREE WITHIN 50 FEET OF A POWER LINE OR A ROAD ANYWHERE!!!

This happens every year, somewhere. People will be without power for days or weeks. Utility crews will be moved across the nation to repair damage, at a cost of 'God know what'.

When 90% of this could be eliminated of we had an actual right of way maintained on our infrastructure.

We'll spend countless millions to restore power lost, and all this effort in lousy weather and conditions, rather than employ good men, in good weather to clear right of way and prevent this never ending crap!

Rant over.

I agree. Prior - planning - prevents -pxxs- poor- performance. Have you every talked to any of the right-of-way trimmers. I have. They have been verbally and physically threatened when trimming or attempting to trim trees on utility right of ways. The Utility Companies know they are going to have problems, but because of a few they revert to a re-active stance rather than put employees in a position of defending themselves from assault or complaints. They then pass the cost on to all consumers.

 

[CowwFace]

I was going to say you guys are "Lucky" ... but with the damage and power losses I don't think that's the right word. Try to enjoy the seat time, and help out the neighbors ... even the ones who don't deserve it! <easy for me to say I know>.

Tractor on,

Phill's Snow Storm Ratings:

Level 1: Can't make it to work
Level 2: Can't make it to the Ski Lifts
Level 3: Can't make it to the liquor store!!!!!!

 

[JB4310]

This is what pisses me off though, begin rant: THERE SHOULDN'T BE A TREE WITHIN 50 FEET OF A POWER LINE OR A ROAD ANYWHERE!!!

This happens every year, somewhere. People will be without power for days or weeks. Utility crews will be moved across the nation to repair damage, at a cost of 'God know what'.

When 90% of this could be eliminated of we had an actual right of way maintained on our infrastructure.


Rant over.

People are talking about this again, 2 times in as many months we have had massive electrical power infrastructure damage.

It would truly be a monumental task, but definitely doable, at least the main roads/ lines. It would require removing trees from private property so there would have to be some kind of eminent domain declared.

I was thinking about it myself after the hurricane, the way to do it would be like a Govt WPA work program, put alot of people back to work, like during the depression (the other depression). might save lives as well.

I fear the perfect storm where there could be huge numbers of deaths attributed to a month long power failure, over a wide geographical area in mid winter.

JB.

 

[JB4310]

I was going to say you guys are "Lucky" ... but with the damage and power losses I don't think that's the right word.

As bad as my property got beat up, I most definitely still consider myself lucky. Sometimes we need a little adversity to remember to be grateful for everything else we have.

JB.

 

[pilot-werx]

I live right next to you in Waterboro and we had almost two feet on the top of the hill I live on. It was all snow and not really wet and heavy. Saturday was spent sucking up six acres of leaves and Sunday we played with the snow blower...

 

[Rustyiron]

Rustyiron from your pics do you leave the steel tracks on for winter? Or didn't have time to take em off?

It's not suposed to snow yet! ..... I heard the weather man talk about this but I didn't really believe him. He was right this time. The ground here is not frozen yet and really didn't want to plow my 1/4 mile gravel lane, it really gets gouged up plowing before its frozen. I ended up pushing it with the root rake bucket that has a rounded front edge. It did a good enough job to get out, its mostly melted now anyway.
I do take them off when the ground either freezes or is dry. They (the tracks) are just about like sled runners on snow or ice. I run tire chains in the winter.:laughing: