According to Webster’s Dictionary, a nor’easter is defined as “a storm with northeast winds.”
If Town of Norwich Highway Superintendent Stan Foulds had it his way, Monday’s version of the Altantic-born squall would be better described if it were simply called a mess.
“It’s crazy,” said Foulds. “We were pretty prepared. But it’s a mess out there.”
By 1 p.m. Monday, over 13 hours worth of wet and heavy snowfall – varying between 8 to 12 inches in most places – had knocked down trees and power lines across Chenango County, closing roads and leaving 8,400 people without electricity. As of 4:45 p.m. a Red Cross shelter had been set up at the Plymouth Fire Department on state Route 23 due to the 690 extended power outages in the township.
According to City of Norwich Emergency Officer A. Wesley Jones, a large majority of the NYSEG customers in Plymouth and elsewhere were restored power by 7 p.m., but a handful throughout the county might not be turned back on again until noon Thursday.
“In the NYSEG region, we received the brunt of it,” Jones said. “The wet and heavy snow caused havoc.”
Sloppy road conditions were blamed for at least two motor vehicle accidents; a two-car collision on the East River Road in Norwich involving a Baldwinsville man and a woman from Johnson City; and a one-car crash on county Route 3A in Smithville. The county Sheriff’s Office reported no injuries or tickets as a result of either incident.
According to the National Weather Service in Binghamton, Monday’s 11.7 inches of snowfall shattered the previous April 16 record of 6.9 inches, set back in 1983. The accumulation also slipped past 11.5 inches – the most snow for any one day in April – which had stood for 47 years (April 9, 1960).
Just five years ago Monday, the high temperature was 85 degrees.
Lifetime county resident and Guilford Town Supervisor Al Doyle doesn’t remember a storm like this occurring in April – but he does in May.
“I don’t remember one like this happening in April,” he said. “There was one May snow storm – it must’ve been in the early 1970s – it broke-off our lilac branches and upset my daughter pretty good. I remember that.”
County Highway Superintendent Randy Gibbon concurred that winter storms have occurred this late, and later, before.
“Guys over here (county garage) remember several incidents like this,” Gibbon said, pointing out a Mother’s Day storm he recalls that occurred 10 or 15 years back. “It doesn’t happen very often, but it’s not new.”
Most municipal and county road crews had already removed their plows and salting equipment prior to the irregular spring snowstorm. Gibbon said his department switched-back to winter equipment Friday in light of the forecast.
“We put it all back on Friday because of this storm,” he said. “Except for all the downed trees, it’s not bad.”
Gibbon said fallen trees had closed and knocked-out power on county Route 4 in Oxford, county Route 9 in Greene and county Route 34 in between Norwich and South New Berlin.
Foulds added that trees-on-wires had blocked parts of Lower Ravine Road, Crandall Street, and Holmesville Road in the Town of Norwich. Other than one of the town’s trucks breaking down on Dan Main Hill Road, Foulds said they were able to keep up with the storm.
“It’s been a tough one,” he said.
Doyle said the storm has been an inconvenience rather than a shock for his town’s highway department.
“It wasted time,” he said. “We meant to dig into other jobs at this point.”