Though the weather people weren’t quite calling it the “perfect storm,” the October 2011 snowstorm seemed to form on perfect though perhaps freaky conditions: a cold front moving down from Canada colliding with moisture moving up the east coast. A few degrees warmer and it probably would’ve been just another wet weekend.
Instead we got Snowtober. 12″ of wet snow in central MA and over 2 feet of snow in other areas. We’re used to snow here, though getting walloped in October is not a welcome sight. What made this worse than the ice storm of 2008, however, was the trees still holding onto their leaves. Heavy wet snow on top of trees that haven’t lost their leaves can only result in one thing.
Cracked, snapped, and sheared off tree limbs crashing on power lines and phone wires. And if that didn’t take out the power, the snapping of the poles themselves was the final insult.
As one town worker told us, some areas looked like war zones.
Our whole town lost power. Power was returned to the town in chunks. Some parts of town got their power back after four days. Some not till day seven. Our power came back on after 6 days. Below are some pictures that I took in the days following the storm. All the pictures were taken with my iPhone. Several were edited using the Camera+ app.
The next three pictures show the birch tree in our backyard. The weight of the snow on its branches caused one stem to crush against our bedroom window.
Same tree split apart by the weight of the snow.
Thankfully the birch has almost fully recovered in the past two weeks and is standing nearly as tall as it was pre-storm.
Snowblowing in October just isn’t right….
Sir Bruce, our gargoyle, wasn’t very happy with all the snow either.
Yet the contrast of the red sugar maple leaves against the white snow was quite stunning.
Trees that snapped and blocked the road.
At least the kids in the neighborhood had the right idea. Loved their snowperson family.
Musings from the Moonroom 