Ice Storm!

[Crankin]

Good geography lesson, SheFly! Actually, my driveway and the less steep side of the hill are fine. But I just had to go out again and for some reason, I turned right at the end of my driveway. When I got to the top of the hill, it was like a war zone. Trees down all along the side of the road, next to the shared driveways and big thick areas of ice. Lots of ice falling from the trees, since it's 40 out now. The sun is shining, too. I wonder if a tree fell on a car as it was driving down the hill and that what I saw all the fire trucks for.

[tulip]

Yeah, thanks for the geography lesson. I lived in Cambridge until I was 12, but I was a real city kid. I thought going to Watertown was a drive to the country (really!). Then I moved to rural North Carolina--what a shock that was, you can imagine.

Hope the ice melts and no one was hurt and that the power comes back on pronto.

[Biciclista]

Lisa just sent me a quick email from a laptop in her car. They have no power, but they do have a woodstove, so they are able to stay warm. They don't know when power will be restored but it might be DAYS.
she lives in upper state NY

[Crankin]

I figured Lisa was without power. Actually, she doesn't live in upper NY state. She lives about 15-20 miles over the border from western MA, in the Berkshires. If you look on a map, it's pretty far south for NY state, except for the city.
The sun is shining, but for the people without power, what good does it do? Same thing here, about 3 days until it goes back on in the towns that are without power. I would be outta here, since we don't have a wood stove. My neighbor's daughter, husband, and 3 kids who live on the NH seacoast have been here since yesterday morning. They don't know when they can go back.

[solobiker]

I grew up in the NE so I have gone through many of those fun storms. I remember one back in 1992 I think it was...ice skating in the parkinglots and trying to keep the pipes from freezing.. Hope everyone is safe.

[Biciclista]

sorry, i grew up in NJ and everything north of NYC was "upper new york state"

[solobiker]

I grew up near Rochester, NY and that was considered Upstate NY also. I think anything north of NYC generally has been considered Upstate..alough that is a large area

[songlady]

I consider us "Western NY"

[mudmucker]

Come to my house if you would like some ice. Still after 48 hrs, power lines down, trees down all over town - line down in my yard, and the ice hasn't melted off the trees yet. It's a veritable skating rink where I am. Phillipston got hit bad and the whole area is without power. I'm at 1200 ft and that elevation doesn't help. I've been without power for 48 hours with no heat so far, and they don't predict the power back on for many more days.

The night of the storm I heard a huge crack, noise, thump in the middle of sleep. After having just been robbed, it sounded like someone trying to break down the cellar door and I bolted upright. But then began the bewitching hours where literally, every 20 minutes the cracking and snapping of trees and branches occurred for the next 8 hours well into morning. The trees were so heavy with ice. It kept me awake all night it was so loud and frequent. The ones further in the woods sounded like a shotgun going off, echo and all. A couple of times branches hit the roof and I heard scraping against the house. I was seriously thinking of moving to the living room couch in the middle of the house away from trees but I didn't.

I planned ahead as I usually do and filled jugs of water for drinking and 5 gallon buckets with water for toilet flushing prior to losing power. The temp in the house held to 58d the first day. Last night it fell to 52 and today it maintained at 42 degrees. Brrr. When I can see my breath then it's time to get out of the house but I couldn't drive the roads until today. The fire department came to my house to tell me there is a state of emergency (I didn't have much contact with the outside world) and they told me they've opened up a shelter for people nearby. I've been using the shelter to refill water. I came to work in Lowell where there is power, I can shower, get gas (can't get gas where I am), stock up on water, check internet, and yes while I'm here actually work. All those years I lived with wood stoves but I don't have one now and I sure miss it. Obviously I can't find a generator east of the Mississippi but you bet I'll get one when they're back in stock. Anyway I won't be back online for a while. I have my laptop here at work where I'm pilfering off of another WiFi, since the firewall off of our server doesn't allow access to forums like this. I have a friend who is bringing his generator to my house tomorrow for a few hours where I'll be able to recharge some well water and bring the house up to temp so pipes don't freeze as it's getting closer to 32. He has no power either so he'll be taking it back. I'll go back to the house tonight to sleep - If I'm lucky temps will hold around 40 in the house. I've done backcountry camping, I'll be fine under the covers. I have a gas stove so I can at least fire up some hot beverages and actually made myself a very hearty meal by candlelight.

[kfergos]

Crankin - thanks for the concern. I actually did ride on Friday, and boy howdy did I get wet! For the first time ever I rode through a real stream, one that had overflowed its banks and had taken over the road. Water over my axles!

However, the road was fine, wet but not icy, and traffic was delightfully light. If only I hadn't gotten soaked to the bone it would've been an OK ride. No icy branches fell on my head, which was my coworkers' concern The trees in Shrewsbury were all covered in ice and bowed down to the ground or with branches snapped off. My company worked off of generator power all day. By afternoon when I left, it was sunny and 38 and the ice had mostly melted. I even saw a guy out on a recumbent on my way home!

North of us, however, is still a disaster zone. We went up to Holden yesterday and trees were encased in ice, limbs and branches still hung from wires, wires were down across roads, nobody had power, National Guard convoys drove around among all the tree-removal trucks and electrical trucks. I hope they're OK up there.