It was fall's 'snowy crippler'

A quarter-century after an early nor'easter, many still remember its heavy impact. The storm stranded thousands of tourists during peak foliage weekend. 21 inches fell in North Springfield, 18 inches in Bennington County. Tens of thousands were without electricity.

It was the earliest snow of record for some locations. The storm claimed 17 lives in central New York State, injured 332 persons, and in Vermont caused seventeen million dollars damage. The six inch snow at Albany NY was their earliest measurable snow in 117 years of records.

www.timesunion.com     www.nytimes.com    

EARLY SNOWSTORM COVERS NORTHEAST By ROBERT D. McFADDEN Published: October 5, 1987

Correction Appended The earliest snowstorm on record struck New York, Connecticut and other parts of New England yesterday, burying some areas in more than a foot of snow that closed roads and airports, knocked out power to more than 300,000 homes and turned russet autumn to wintry solitude. The storm - an Oct. 4 marvel caused by a collision of cold and soggy air masses - was the earliest in the region since the Army Signal Corps began keeping weather records in 1870. It eclipsed one that blew in on Oct. 10, 1925, and it even toppled the 150-year-old unofficial record - a blizzard that almanackers say hit on Oct. 6, 1836. Coastal areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were lashed by cold rain but were spared by temperatures in the 40's from the snow that fell heavily over a wide band of colder mountains and hills in the Northeast. #20 Inches in New York The National Weather Service reported snow accumulations of up to 20 inches in upstate New York, 18 inches in western Massachusetts, 12 inches in Vermont and 9 inches in Connecticut. The northwest corner of New Jersey had 3 inches. The snow caught the region by surprise. The National Weather Service had forecast unseasonably cool weather and snow showers over parts of New York and New England, but there had been no talk of a walloping big storm. Temperatures, in fact, skidded to new lows along much of the Eastern Seaboard, and records were tied or broken in 37 cities. From the Catskills and Berkshires of upstate New York to the Green and White Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire, the snow transformed the landscape, isolating entire communities and cloaking valleys and slopes that had only just begun to blush with red, orange and yellow. ''All hell is breaking loose,'' said William Kraus, a Putnam County Deputy Sheriff, as the flakes came down. ''There's snow on everything, and trees and wires down. We've got road blockages and grass fires and brush fires started by broken wires. I'm telling people to stay home.'' For thousands of people, it was a day to go nowhere and to do nothing, a day without power, heat, television or visitors, with time to look out the window at tapestries of falling snow and silent woodlands. ''I've been out of power since 9:15 this morning,'' said Mary Ann Etu, of Altamont, N.Y., 12 miles southeast of Albany. ''Our house is oil-heated with an electric starter, so we are rolled up in blankets, reading books. We have our long underwear on and a couple of extra pairs of socks. It's just one of those Sundays.'' Across much of New York State and the Northeast, leaf-laden trees caught falling snow and the weight snapped branches and toppled trees across power lines and roads. Many highways and a 26-mile stretch of the Thomas E. Dewey Thruway were closed, and power failures hit 230,000 homes in New York State, 77,000 in Connecticut and 10,000 in Massachusetts. Two Deaths Reported Utility crews labored through the day and most of the power failures were expected to be ended by this morning, although the restoration of full power to some isolated areas might take days, officials said. Many snow-removal operations were handicapped because trucks had not yet been fitted with plows and melting was expected to do the job. At least two deaths were attributed to the storm. The victims were men in Columbia County, one in Chatham and one in Copake, and both were reported to have been killed by falling trees, according to sheriff's deputies, who said identifications were not immediately available. Scores of minor traffic accidents were reported throughout the region and motorists were warned to stay off roads. Emergencies were declared in some communities in the Hudson Valley, and thousands of people were stranded at homes and weekend retreats. Crops of apples, peppers, eggplant and sweet corn were reported damaged. The Montgomery County village of Hagaman, population 1,331, was isolated by the snow, which left all roads in the area impassable by all but emergency vehicles, according to Sheriff Ron Emery. Virtually all roads in Columbia and Dutchess Counties were closed. The Albany County Airport was closed for much of the day and, because of a power failure that was expected to last until today, later flights were detoured to other airports. Many smaller Northeast airports also were closed. Metro-North trains were stranded by as much as two hours on some routes and Amtrak trains in the Albany area were delayed 30 minutes to an hour, but spokesmen for both lines said service today was expected to be near normal. Autumn Weather Should Return The snow began late Saturday night in many areas and, moving to the east, continued through the morning before tapering off in the early to middle afternoon. Moderating temperatures late in the day began melting the snow in many sections, leaving slush and soggy terrain. Except for the most mountainous areas, the snow was expected to be gone today with a return to far more autumnal weather: mostly sunny skies with temperatures reaching into the 60's over much of the Northeast. The heaviest snow, 20 inches, was reported at East Jewett, in Greene County, south of Albany. Elsewhere in New York State, the National Weather Service reported accumulations of up to 15 inches in Ulster County, 13 inches in Rensselaer County, 12 inches in the Catskills and 10 inches in Columbia County. The hills around Albany had up to 10 inches of snow, and farther down the Hudson Valley accumulations were as high as 10 inches in Dutchess County, 7 inches in Putnam County and 3 inches in northern Westchester County. The only snow in New Jersey fell in the northwest corner of the state, where accumulations of 3 inches were reported. Berkshire County Hit Hard In Connecticut, northwestern sections reported up to 9 inches of snow, while 4 to 6 inches fell in parts of interior Fairfield and New Haven Counties. Danbury and New Milford had 3 inches, but there were only flurries in Stamford, and Hartford had rain. In Vermont, 8 to 12 inches of snow were reported in high elevations around Bennington, in the southwestern corner of the state. Shaftsbury had 11 inches. Heavy snows were reported in the southern reaches of the White Mountains of New Hampshire. In Massachusetts, the storm hit hardest in western Berkshire County, where up to 18 inches fell; Great Barrington and Pittsfield declared states of emergency because of widespread power failures and hazardous driving. The heaviest power failures were reported by Niagara Mohawk Power Company, which said 178,000 of its customers were without power in the region around Albany. Ray Hull, a utility spokesman, said full power might take days to restore. Other power failures in New York struck 60,000 customers ofCentral Hudson Gas and Electric in eight mid-Hudson counties; 15,000 customers of New York State Electric and Gas in Dutchess, Putnam and Westchester Counties, and 2,000 customers of the Long Island Lighting Company in Suffolk County. Spokesmen for the utilities said full service would not be restored before today. In Connecticut, Northeast Utilities, the state's largest utility, said that 85,000 of its 1 million customers -75,000 in Connecticut and 10,000 in western Massachusetts - were without power. A spokesman said power was expected to be restored to most users by today, but that as many as 20,000 customers would be without power until tomorrow. United Illuminating, which serves 294,000 customers in the New Haven and Bridgeport areas, reported that 2,300 homes were blacked out, but a spokesman said that a full restoration of power was expected yesterday. Heavy snow and stalled vehicles closed the 26-mile Berkshire section of the New York State Thruway, from the main artery at Selkirk, eight miles south of Albany, to the Massachusetts border. For Raymond St. Louis, a storm monitor for Connecticut's Department of Transportation in Wethersfield, the storm brought about a peculiar time gap. ''I thought I lost a month of my life,'' he said. ''I woke up and I thought it was November.'' Photo of firemen preparing to remove body of man killed when branch from tree, weighted by snow, fell on his truck (AP) (Pg. 1); truck driving on show-covered road (NYT/Mark Antman) (Pg. B5)