{"id":82891,"date":"2020-12-27T07:13:58","date_gmt":"2020-12-27T12:13:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?p=82891"},"modified":"2020-12-28T07:39:13","modified_gmt":"2020-12-28T12:39:13","slug":"wendy-post-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2020\/12\/27\/wendy-post-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Digging Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

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. <\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Digging<\/a>

Crews work on a secondary road in the Village of Owego. (Photo by Wendy Post)<\/p><\/div>\n

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\u2019s end on Thursday morning.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Digging<\/a>

Even the dogs at the Rebecca Weitsman Memorial Dog Park were hopeful last week, and as park volunteer Jim Malia worked with the town to get the snow loving dogs back in the park. Pictured, Charlie sits in front of a path that was cleared in the big dog section of the park. (Photo contributed by Jim Malia)<\/p><\/div>\n

With snow weighing in at approximately 20 pounds per cubic foot, the task at hand for many residents was proving to be challenging. <\/span><\/p>\n

Over the state line in Windham, a roof collapsed on a home last week, prompting residents to grow concerned about the snow\u2019s weight. At the time of this reporting on Wednesday, warmer air was melting things; although a forecast in the 50\u2019s for Christmas Eve, and accompanied with rain, was drawing concern from the pandemic, storm, and snow-weary residents.<\/p>\n

\"Digging<\/a>

Even the dogs at the Rebecca Weitsman Memorial Dog Park were hopeful last week, and as park volunteer Jim Malia worked with the town to get the snow loving dogs back in the park. Pictured is Charlie. (Photo contributed by Jim Malia)<\/p><\/div>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Digging<\/a>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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\"Digging<\/a>

Snow removal was proving to be a major task in the Village of Owego because of the record amount of snow that fell in a short period of time. (Photo by Wendy Post)<\/p><\/div>\n

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. <\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s safe to say that we were all blind-sided by this one.<\/p>\n

\"Digging<\/a>

A plow works its way back up Kings Point Circle in Owego to remove the heavy snow left behind in the wake of snowstorm Gail. (Photo contributed by Scott Armstrong)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Digging<\/a>

This photo was taken by Ed Nizalowski from a window of his home in Newark Valley, N.Y., where they saw the highest snowfall recorded at 44-inches. Provided.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Digging<\/a>

The birds were still able to get to their food after the storm. (Photo contributed by Ed Nizalowski)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Digging<\/a>

A familiar sight to most, this vehicle needed clearing. (Photo contributed by Ed Nizalowski)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Digging<\/a>

A familiar sight to most, this vehicle needed clearing. (Photo contributed by Ed Nizalowski)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":82898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nDigging Out - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2020\/12\/27\/wendy-post-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Digging Out - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2020\/12\/27\/wendy-post-3\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/The-Owego-Pennysaver-49179420591\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-12-27T12:13:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-28T12:39:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2020\/12\/Storm7-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1603\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"psadvert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"psadvert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2020\/12\/27\/wendy-post-3\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2020\/12\/27\/wendy-post-3\/\",\"name\":\"Digging Out - Owego Pennysaver Press\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2020\/12\/27\/wendy-post-3\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2020\/12\/27\/wendy-post-3\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2020\/12\/Storm7-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-12-27T12:13:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-12-28T12:39:13+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e03684194434956dfb61f5ffcbc19492\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2020\/12\/27\/wendy-post-3\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2020\/12\/27\/wendy-post-3\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2020\/12\/27\/wendy-post-3\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2020\/12\/Storm7-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2020\/12\/Storm7-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1603,\"caption\":\"Big equipment is called in to tackle the massive amount of snow that needed to be removed. 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