Digging Out

Residents in the region were still working to dig their way out at the beginning of the week, and after snowstorm Gail dropped about 40-inches of snow in less than 12-hours on the evening of Dec. 16 and into the morning of Dec. 17, shattering previous records. 

According to the National Weather Service, the mid-December storm set a new all-time high, breaking an old record for snow depth from March 15, 1993 of 35-inches for the area. In March of 2017, Winter Storm Stella dropped about 31-inches of snow in the area, although over a period of two days.

And crews were blind-sided by the snow, as initial forecasts revealed a much smaller amount of snowfall anticipated for the region. In Owego and Tioga County, the rate of snowfall was so rapid that the plows were literally unable to keep up with it; leaving residents blanketed with close to 4-feet of snow upon the storm’s end on Thursday morning.

Officials worked quickly to issue a State of Emergency, and they pulled in help from outside resources to assist with the snow removal – a task that would take several days to accomplish. There were trucks and plows; there were bucket loaders and snow blowers. It was a winter wonderland, with over 250 miles of road in the Town of Owego alone.

With snow weighing in at approximately 20 pounds per cubic foot, the task at hand for many residents was proving to be challenging. 

Over the state line in Windham, a roof collapsed on a home last week, prompting residents to grow concerned about the snow’s weight. At the time of this reporting on Wednesday, warmer air was melting things; although a forecast in the 50’s for Christmas Eve, and accompanied with rain, was drawing concern from the pandemic, storm, and snow-weary residents.

A flood watch issued by the National Weather Service on Wednesday urged residents to take caution as the warm weather and rain was expected to cause flooding in the area.

Another concern for residents following the heavy snowfall was the state of older structures, like barns, and the task of getting to farm animals for daily chores. Most of the farmers have the equipment, but it was getting to the equipment that was proving to be problematic – much like with the crews that worked tirelessly to clear the roads.

To offer an example of the challenges of removing heavy snow, on a secondary road in the Village of Owego alone, crews had to first remove layers from the top, and then they worked their way down to a manageable amount to plow – they were removing the snow. Over the weekend, and following the storm, clearing the storm drains in the road was a priority; especially with the melt, rain, and runoff anticipated.

Either way, the crews were getting it done, and did so with all they could muster to move the record amount of snow in time for residents to finish their Christmas shopping and to keep commerce going. In fact, and following last week’s storm, bragging rights for the highest snowfall came into play, with Newark Valley, N.Y. winning the national title, so to speak, with 44-inches recorded.

As of Wednesday, Dec. 23, the State of Emergency remained in place for Tioga County as crews continued working to clear out lots, and to manicure the roads. Like the pandemic and all of the other events that took place this year, nobody saw this one coming; the forecasters fell short several feet on their predictions. 

It’s safe to say that we were all blind-sided by this one.