New England Ice Storm 2FEB2011

Well Groundhogs day is a little different. While New England has been getting pounded by snow every mid week since Christmas, this week we are getting pounded by freezing rain.

Yesterday, Tuesday Feb 1^st, work and schools closed early due to the freezing rain and hazardous conditions. Along the coast where I live, it was manly freezing rain and hail. In northern Rhode Island, they received up to 6 inches of snow. This morning, Feb 2^nd, we woke to about 2 inches of hail/ ice on our cars and driveways. It was still hailing until about 0930 when the weather switched to rain. Both way, traveling is very hazardous and almost all schools and work are closed.

The biggest issue with all of the snow and ice is weight on roofs. Southern New England has seen numerous roof collapses, both residential and businesses. The ice damming on roofs in some cases are 6 inches deeps causing many gutter failures, and water entering people's homes. A friend at work has had water continuously entering her kitchen for the last 3 weeks! She lives in a condo on the third floor, and since the building is so high, they cannot clear the roof themselves.

Many gutters have totally failed and have fallen off of homes due to the weight of the snow.

Another issue is street flooding. Right now there is about 24 inches of snow on the sides of the roads. Sometimes these snow piles are clogging storm drains, there is nowhere for melting snow or rain to go. I have not heard from anyone about basement flooding yet, but it will come soon.

Today the weather is supposed to warm up to 40 degrees. So hopefully some of this snow will melt. And that ground hog in Pennsylvania said spring was going to come early, so hopefully he is right!