Winter storm Gail packs a punch

Four-year old Kaylee Rivers of Hebron played in the middle of Little Burch Hill Road.

Last week’s snowstorm packed more of a punch than anyone expected.

The storm that dropped between two and three feet of snow throughout the region beginning Wednesday evening, Dec. 16, through Thursday afternoon, Dec. 17, had been estimated to leave the area with about 8 to 12 inches of the fluffy white stuff before moving on as of a winter storm warning issued by the National Weather Service on Wednesday afternoon.

In anticipation of the storm, Granville Mayor Paul Labas provided a short list of tips for Granville residents:

“1. Don’t panic! 2. Don’t drive your car like you just stole it. 3. Stay home, you did it all summer, what’s one more day? 4. Leave food on the grocery store shelves for others! Unlike COVID, things will be back to normal in a few days. 5. Don’t park your car on the streets, let the road crews do their work to plow snow. 6. Everybody wanted a White Christmas anyway. 7. Just relax, it will be over when it’s over. Stay safe and warm everyone!”

The snow began falling late in the evening on Wednesday, and according to the National Weather Service heavy snow bands of one to two inches an hour were common at first. The heavy snow bands slowed their northward progress, resulting in snowfall rates of up to six inches an hour after midnight on Thursday through the late morning. A swath of very heavy snow occurred where these bands pivoted across Saratoga, southeast Warren, Washington, and northern Bennington counties.

When the snow finally tapered off in the late morning/early afternoon on Thursday, local accumulations reported by the NWS were from 30 inches in Hartford to 30.2 inches in Granville, 32.2 inches in Cambridge, 38.0 inches in Salem and Greenwich and an astonishing 39.5 inches in Cossayuna. Vermont’s totals were somewhat less, in the range of one to two feet.

Schools canceled classes early on Thursday morning, while road crews struggled to clear the snow.

Image posted by Hartford town supervisor Dana Haff of a plow truck that went off the road

As of 9 a.m. on Thursday, Washington County declared a state of emergency, strongly encouraging the public to limit any and all non-essential travel: “All pedestrian and vehicular traffic should be undertaken with care on all affected public roadways within Washington County and the public shall observe all road closings which may be in effect. Please allow the time and space our Public Works personnel need to continue snow removal and roadway clearing operations safely for everyone involved.”

On Thursday morning Hartford town supervisor Dana Haff posted: “State of emergency declared for Washington County. Please stay home if at all possible as driving in this will put you at a lot of risk. It would be almost impossible for help to get to you. Even the large municipal plow trucks are going off the road. At the bottom of this post is a photo sent to me showing a state plow in the ditch on State Route 40 in Hartford. Last night we all went to bed expecting 7” at the most, but I have 3’ so far and it is coming down even heavier now. Please check the vents (furnace, boiler, dryer, etc.) on your house to make sure they are not getting covered over by snow.”

Whitehall highway superintendent Louis Pratt II said that he and his crew had an eventful day of taking care of the roads. “It’s always an adventure, that’s for sure,” he said.

Pratt said that he was out of bed by midnight and called his crew in for 3 a.m. They were out on the roads from 3 a.m. on Thursday and finished at 5 p.m. “You’ve got to get the snow off of the roads,” he said. “Everything pretty much went well and fortunately everything held together.”

NYVT Media reporter Austin Crosier captured the view from Cambridge after the snow stopped.

Driveways and private roads were another issue, however. Some posts on local Facebook groups like Hebron Helping Neighbors and Salem Community Joined Together were still seeking assistance getting driveways plowed as late as Sunday, Dec. 20.

After a storm that gave the region much more snow than previously anticipated, Pratt had one thing to say: “I guess we survived it, put it that way.”

The next round of extreme weather is expected to begin late Thursday, Dec. 24, and continue into early Friday morning with heavy rain forecasted. The rain will fall on the region’s deep snowpack, leading to snow melt. This snow melt, combined with one to three inches of rain, could lead to flash flooding.

Here’s an album of storm photos sent in by our readers and staff.