http://www.fox44now.com/story/15908176/103011-snow-totals-and-pictures
Published October 31, 2011 in the Rutland Herald
Historic ‘Snowtober’ storm hits southern Vermont
By SUSAN SMALLHEER
STAFF WRITER
Heavy wet snow – setting records in southern Vermont with more than a foot reported – paralyzed towns late Saturday and into Sunday morning, knocking out electricity to thousands of Vermonters and cancelling Halloween parades and parties, all the while delighting skiers.
The “trick-or-treat” storm packed heavy snow that weighed down trees, many still with their leaves, and touched off the widespread power problems.
The storm also prompted Vermont State Police on Saturday night to urge motorists to stay off the roads. And its snow left seasonal decorations of pumpkins and cornstalks buried under a thick coating of white frosting.
But by midafternoon Sunday, the snow was starting to disappear, and trees had shed their loads of white.
The little village of West Halifax in extreme southern Windham County had the dubious distinction Sunday of having the most snow in the so-called Snowtober storm, with more than 16 inches of snow overnight, while towns just south of Halifax in Massachusetts received more than 2 feet of snow.
The National Weather Service in Burlington said that Windham County was hit the hardest by the storm, sparing western Vermont as the storm moved east, closer to the coast.
“In western Massachusetts, it was historic; in parts of southern Vermont, it was historic. In Rutland, it wasn’t historic,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Peter Banacos.
Snowfall totals in Windham County started at 10 inches and climbed. Brattleboro had 15 inches and endured the most power outages during the storm. Marlboro, up in the mountains, tallied 15.8 inches; Wilmington got 13 inches; Bellows Falls recorded 10 inches, and Rockingham was hit by 12 inches.
In Windsor County, Springfield reported 9.5 inches, and Ludlow had amounts varying from 5 and 7 inches, while Woodstock recorded 6 inches and Rochester 3 inches.
In the Bennington County town of Woodford, the snowfall total was 14 inches, while Bennington reported 9 inches.
By comparison, Rutland City reported 1.8 inches, with Danby Four Corners tallying 4 inches.
Burlington got a tenth-of-an inch, he said.
The record for October snowfall in Rutland, he said, was 5.5 inches, set on Oct. 26, 2005, and also in 1987.
“It was a classic nor’easter,” he said of the storm.
The threat of the storm prompted the postponement of Rutland City’s famous Halloween Parade, which will be held today, on Halloween night, Banacos said that the October snowstorm was a result of a low pressure system coming up the coast and hitting cold air that was already in place.
At the height of the storm Saturday night, about 7,500 customers of Central Vermont Public Service lost power, said Christine Rivers, a spokeswoman for the utility, with most of the outages in the Brattleboro area.
Rivers said that at one point Sunday a single tree fell on a main transmission line, and took out electricity for 2,300 customers.
“Luckily, we were able to get them back on line in 30 minutes,” she said.
CVPS had earlier Saturday sent about 20 extra crews down to southern Vermont in anticipation of widespread power outages from the unseasonal storm, she said.
Green Mountain Power, which serves a group of towns along the Connecticut River in Windham County, had the most stubborn electricity outage with 2,300 people in Putney still without power until 2 p.m. Sunday.
Banacos said he didn’t know whether a snowy Halloween portended a snowy six months of winter.
“I’m focused on the next seven days,” he said.
The record snows won’t be around for long: Banacos said temperatures will be in the high 40s and low 50s for the next three days.
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