By KIM SMITH DEDAM
and DENISE RAYMO
Staff Writers
KEENE — Winter moved in overnight Tuesday, burying sodden piles of autumn leaves under eight to 12 inches of snow.
The storm hit hardest in higher Adirondack elevations and in the Malone area, sparing much of the Champlain Valley.
About 4,700 North Country homes were still without power Wednesday morning after the storm brought widespread tree damage and power interruptions, as predicted.
The storm either closed or delayed most schools in Franklin County, as well as Saranac Lake, Lake Placid and Tupper, Lake and canceled all classes at the three campuses of North Country Community College.
Although a number of accidents were reported, none appeared to involve serious injuries.
RECORD SNOWFALL
Tupper Lake had the most overnight snow with 13 inches, followed by Malone with 11, tying a 20-year-old record for snowfall.
Newcomb reported 4.8 inches of fresh snow, according to the National Weather Service.
OUTAGES
National Grid reported at 9:45 a.m. that 4,625 Franklin County households were without power, along with 79 homes in Essex County.
Downed limbs knocked out power on the east and west ends of Malone, forcing Malone Central School District to close all of its buildings for the day after first trying to start classes a little later.
“We had no power at Franklin Academy High School and our bus garage, so we went with a two-hour delay, thinking it would give the road crew enough time to get to the roads,” said District Superintendent Wayne Walbridge.
They had hoped to open.
“The school would have been a place to bring the students who may have been without power at home. It would’ve been a safe haven and a place where they could have breakfast and lunch.”
But power wasn’t restored to the High School until 7:30 a.m., he said, which forced the district to take its first snow day of the season.
FORUM DELAYED
North Country Community College was also without power in Malone and had to reschedule a visit from one of its president candidates, Dr. Lawrence Spraggs. The college also canceled his planned visit to the Ticonderoga campus.
Instead, Spraggs will hold forums today in Malone, with availability through videoconferencing at the Ti Video Conference Center.
The student forum will be held from 11:15 a.m. to noon, a faculty and staff forum from 2 to 3 p.m. and a community open forum from 3 to 4 p.m., all at the Cornell Room at 111 Rheshetkina Hall, Malone.
CREWS OUT EARLY
On the hills surrounding Keene, fallen leaves skittered over snow banks and rustled on crusted ice. Mountain roads were slick as the heavy, wet snow turned to ice in a blustery wind.
“They’re pretty good underneath the snow and ice,” quipped Alan Carey, a heavy-equipment operator with the Keene Highway Department.
Keene crews had been out since 4 in the morning, said plow operator Scott Smith, who came in for a break about 10:30.
“We’ve been around a couple times. It’s still snowing a little bit, but just barely.”
The leaves are mostly gone, and branches drooped with snow along the side roads, where empty October vistas looked more like January.
Saranac Lake Village Manager Martin Murphy said about eight inches fell in a blowing storm that started there Tuesday evening.
“We had crews out last night about 7 p.m.; they’re doing a good job getting the roads cleared,” he said Wednesday. “This is unusual, obviously, for this time of year, but it happens in the higher elevations.
“It’s an icy snow. As temperatures are warming up, and as snow gets packed, it has a tendency to form ice.”
Tupper Lake highway crews estimate upward of a foot of snow fell, starting about 3 p.m. Tuesday.
“Hard to move, and hard to go,” said Bill Dechene. “Different guys are saying we got a foot to 13 inches, but the wind’s blowing too, so it drifts. It snowed all day Tuesday but didn’t start sticking until 3 or 3:30.”
He was in for refueling about 11 Wednesday morning and counted four trips around town with a plow.
“I would say this is unusual for this time of year. Starting to slow down now.”
MOUNTAINS’ INFLUENCE
Elevation seems to have made the difference in this storm. The National Weather Service map had a big, pink bulls-eye centered right over the High Peaks predicting 13 inches of snow.
The event is technically called “orographically enhanced snowfall”, said Maureen Breitbach, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Burlington.
“A lot of it is due to elevation, yes, but it matters what side of the mountains you’re on. The western side of the mountains received more snow because around the back of these storms, the wind is blowing west or northwest.
“What happens is, the air goes up the mountains, which forces all the moisture to come out of the air.
“By the time the air gets to the other side (eastern) of the mountains, all the moisture is gone.”
Snow remained in the forecast until late Wednesday.
“The low pressure that brought all the snow is going to continue to lift off, we’ll still see some snow showers into tonight,” Breitbach said, “especially across the mountains.”
Sunshine Thursday and Friday should start to melt some of it off.
Tourism officials are hoping the October blast is a sign of a busy winter season but are finding people have to relearn how to drive first.
“Everybody (meteorologists, the Farmer’s Almanac, the caterpillar at the end of the driveway) says this is going to be a nice, snowy winter,” said Visitor’s Bureau spokesman Jon Lundin, “and this is Day One. But, since this is Day One, some of us forget how to drive, like me.”
Area police reported several cars off the roads, but no major injuries occurred in any accident.
Lundin managed to motor slowly to work, he said, and is rethinking a snow-tire appointment he scheduled for December.
ACCIDENTS
As snow pounded the region, many drivers struggled to stay on the road.
Several motorists in the Malone and Fort Covington areas skidded into ditches and trees throughout the night, though officials say there were no injuries reported in the wintry wrecks.
State Police were called out to both the northbound and southbound lanes of Interstate 87 in Chazy around 7 a.m. Wednesday when two accidents happened within a span of minutes. Troopers found a mangled truck next to a guardrail and car that had swerved off the road.
They said portions of the highway, especially the overpass, had glare ice on it, making it a challenge for drivers.
SKIERS HAPPY
If winter’s fury has a silver lining, an early snowfall invariably turns some people’s thoughts to skiing.
“I think the snow is great. I wish I could ski at Whiteface today,” said Lake Placid Mayor Jamie Rogers.
“It’s actually a hard storm day for us because we’ve got a lot of guys out hunting. We’ve had guys from electric department, guys from sewer department helping out. We usually do that in bad storms anyway.”
Electricity remained on in Lake Placid, with just one tree down on one power line Tuesday night, Rogers said.
“We really have no major issues. I hope some of it melts for the trick-or-treaters on Friday, though. We wouldn’t want to lose any ghosts in the snow.”
— Staff Writer Andrea VanValkenburg contributed to ths report.
Local News
Related Photos
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The Village of Lake Placid is covered in new-fallen snow from a late October storm that buried the Adirondacks but left most of the Champlain Valley barely touched. Jon Lundin, Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau
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Snow capped stones in Nichols Brook, a stream tumbling along Alstead Hill Road in Keene looked more like a January scene than October Wednesday morning. A Nor'easter blew in pummeling much of the high peaks region in the Kim Smith Dedam
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