This past weekend the National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings for far northern New York. The area could expect up to nine inches of snow. I groaned. The weather this winter has been very wet, but with temperatures that fluctuated so widely that precipitation has fallen in every conceivable way but hail. Skiers and snowshoers are frustrated because a decent base of snow has not built up. Cyclists are frustrated because there’s been so much slop and ice, which road crews combated with generous applications of sandy salt. Hikers are worried about slipping on icy trails.

When I woke on Friday morning to see there was hardly any additional snow, I felt lucky, particularly as I read news reports of a major ice storm in parts of eastern New York, southern Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

 

 
Almost 11 years ago this coming January, northern New York, Vermont, and adjacent portions of Canada were hit with a “freezing rain event” that lasted days. Though some folks locally thought it a lark, for me it was a terrible experience. Living in a flimsy cabin under tall pines when ice is accumulating on every needle, twig, and limb is not a prescription for a settled mind. I worried for the animals whom I had come to know and who lived in the woods around us. I worried a tree would fall on us in the night and crush us as we slept, not that sleep was forthcoming. The awful appearance of the sky as transformers blew on a pole down the road, with a flash of unnatural blue and white light, will haunt me forever. Rain tinkled as it fell at 28 degrees Fahrenheit, and the thought of that sound still makes my stomach clench. And the sound of limbs and tree trunks cracking and crashing in the dark is not one I recommend to anyone.

Power was out for weeks on the woods road where we lived. With no wood stove and no way to power computers which are the lifeblood for writers of website content, there was no choice but to lock the door and flee to relatives where it was possible to work, at least. But what was happening at home? Would there be a home to return to? For a month there was no reliable answer.

 
As I said, that was about 11 years ago. This latest storm only kissed this area which suffered in the Great Ice Storm of 1998, as I recently heard it called. For several days I’ve been receiving a trickle of reports from friends, family, and readers who live in the areas affected by this latest cruel storm. Others I want to hear from have yet to contact me. I assume they’re still without power or phone connections. As I sit here warm and having emerged from a hot shower, I think of folks who are in the dark about when they can return to their own homes and resume their lives. And I think about the wild critters whose lives have been affected, too. The tree-dwellers whose trees have lost limbs or have fallen to the ground. The animals and birds who cannot chew or peck through the thick ice which shrouds every food morsel.

As the year winds down and the holidays approach ever so fast, I can’t help but hope a speedy resumption of normalcy to everyone whose lives have been disrupted by this terrible storm.