Northeast sees 2 feet of snow — and flooding

Vermont, upstate N.Y. get snowfall, while other areas get heavy rain


Mike Lynch / Adirondack Daily Enterprise via AP

A front-end loader removes snow from downtown Saranac Lake, N.Y., on Monday, after a storm dumped close to 30 inches.

The Associated Press
updated 1 hour 40 minutes ago 2011-03-07T23:58:12

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A fierce storm late in a snow-heavy winter blanketed northern New England and upstate New York with up to 30 inches of snow Monday, while western Connecticut was deluged with so much rain that parts of homes and cars floated down a swollen river.

In northern Vermont, drifting and blowing snow caused whiteout conditions with near-zero visibility, and a 10- to 12-mile section of Interstate 89 was closed for hours. Thirty inches of snow was reported in Jericho in northwestern Vermont at midday, the National Weather Service said, and the Burlington Airport saw its biggest March snowfall on record: 24.3 inches of snow by 5 p.m.

Spring's arrival in just two weeks meant the most popular types of snow shovels were sold out at Aubuchon Hardware in downtown Montpelier and grass seed was on display.

"Smile, folks — it's coming," Tom Walbridge said of spring.

Outside told a different story.

Amy Newman jogged along Main Street pushing a three-wheeled stroller with big, knobby tires and carrying her 3-year-old son, Wakeland. She paused and laughed about her disrupted routine.

"We tried going to the library, but it was closed. Then we tried La Brioche" — a popular local bakery — "but it was closed, too." Their next, and last, stop was the supermarket down the street.

The storm helped push the winter of 2010-11 up the record list. The 13 inches that fell in Syracuse, N.Y., made it the fourth-snowiest winter on record there, with a season total to 173.5 inches. Rochester, N.Y., surpassed 112 inches of snow by Sunday, more than 30 inches above normal.

It's the fourth-snowiest winter on record in Burlington, at 121.4 inches, and the storm appeared potent enough to challenge the famous Valentine's Day blitz in 2007 that dumped 25.7 inches on Burlington, said National Weather Service meteorologist Bruce Taber.

"We had almost a tropical air mass across southern New England that was trying to push north at the same time a polar air mass was trying to push south," he said.

"It was that battleground that created this intense snowfall."

Vermonters are used to winter weather, of course, but some were surprised by this storm, said Sotera Maglaris, manager of the Arcadia Diner in South Burlington. "They're surprised on how much snow we actually did end up getting and how bad the roads (are)," Maglaris said of her customers.

Schools and other public facilities closed across the region. Most nonessential state employees were given the day off.

A utility crew repairing downed power lines in the southern Vermont town of Baltimore was forced to leave the area because more ice-laden trees were coming down around them.

Heavy rain fell in western Massachusetts, where a mudslide in Greenfield forced at least two families from their homes and buried at least three cars under mud and debris. Mild temperatures melted snow rapidly and caused minor flooding in the eastern part of the state, though the region received less than half an inch of rain Monday.

In western Connecticut, heavy rains and melting snow combined to cause major flooding and mudslides. Officials in Shelton reported that parts of two homes and two cars were swept into the Housatonic River. The homes and cars appeared to be unoccupied, officials said. No injuries were reported.

The Housatonic was reported to be about 10 feet above the flood stage at the Stevenson Dam, to nearly 21 feet. Further upstream, an ice jam on the river broke in Kent and sent ice chunks and water onto a highway, which was then closed.


A home is flooded in Washingtonville, N.Y., on Monday. Flooding closed several roads in Ulster County and other areas south of Albany.

Several rivers were nearing flood stage in New Hampshire as heavy rains combined with melting snow. Officials were also concerned that higher temperatures would cause ice dams to form.

Firefighters in Newport, N.H., used a boat to rescue an adult and three children as the swollen South Branch of the Sugar River rose around their home.

Parts of upstate New York were buried under more than 2 feet of heavy snow, combined with freezing rain, sleet and 30 mph winds. Scores of schools were closed and thousands lost power.

More than 50,000 power outages were reported at the storm's peak, most of them in the Albany, N.Y., area but also in central Vermont.

Maine saw rain on the coast, and up to 20 inches of snow in some inland areas.

"There's a little bit of everything," said Margaret Curtis, National Weather Service meteorologist in Gray, Maine, which got freezing rain at one point during the storm.

In northern Maine, where residents are accustomed to some of the nation's heaviest snowfall, rain fell for 18 hours and then turned to sleet and heavy snow. That added to the misery for mushers who departed Saturday morning from Fort Kent on a grueling 250-mile dog sled race, the Can-Am Crown.

About half the participants dropped out, but those who persevered began crossing the finish line Monday, said race marshal George Theriault.

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