The Day After the New England Snow Storm 13JAN2011

Yesterday was a good old fashion New England snow storm. It started snowing just after midnight on Wednesday 12 January. What was very bizarre about the storm was we awoke at 0330 to thunder and lightning. It was the large cloud style lightning that never seemed to reach the ground.

At about 0630 there was already 11 inches of snow on the ground. By the time the snow stopped at around 1400 (2PM) on 12 January we had a total between 15-18 inches of snow. I live in Hope Valley in Southern Rhode Island, other places in Northern Rhode Island were reporting up to 24 inches of snow during that time period.

The snow was also the very wet and heavy type. It was not light and fluffy, which made shoveling very difficult.

Almost all businesses, state and federal offices were closed during the storm. To my surprise, the mail was delivered during the height of the storm. The majority of schools in Rhode Island remained closed during the storm and the day afterwards. Only a few schools had a delay.

The state roads and highways were cleared quickly. The day after the storm all state roads were clear and the highway (RT95) was an easy drive into work. The back roads and the city roads were difficult and slippery the morning after the storm.

We are expecting snow again this weekend and possibly early next week. Add a few more inches to the already 24 inches of snow will make for some interesting times. Already there was a roof collapse in Norwich CT that displaced 10 families. Hopefully the snow will not hinder the Patriots-Jets game on Sunday.