On Saturday, October 29, the Keene, N.H., area got around 18 inches of snow in a freaky Nor’easter that affected people from Pennsylvania to Maine.
We had gotten some snow earlier last week, so the thought of getting another 6 inches wasn’t all that earth-shattering. By the time my daughter got home from school on Friday, we were expecting 6 to 10 inches. That was easily survivable so we weren’t too concerned.
Early afternoon on Saturday, the team tearing down our shed had arrived. The totals had gone up to 16 inches for our area. Without knowing when the storm was going to hit they got to work and had just started loading the second load of wood into their vehicle as the first snowflakes started to fall around 3 p.m. When they left we had an inch of snow on the ground.
We headed up the street to get milk and some other things we needed. By the time we got home there were more than 2 inches of snow on the ground. I let my daughter know she was going to be missing the Halloween party schedule that night.
News of power outages for family and friends in New Jersey hit Facebook and Google+. The 11 p.m. news announced more than 160,000 people in New Hampshire were without power and the snow was still coming down hard.
Our power flickered around midnight and I decided to put some jugs of water into the fridge and made sure we knew where our flashlights were. I made sure my phone and iPAQ were charged so we could have some means of communication with the outside world should the power go out. It was still snowing when I went to bed around 2 a.m.
When I woke up at 8:30 on Sunday, the snow had stopped and the skies were blue. We had about 18 inches of snow. My daughter spent 20 minutes clearing the snow from the deck, stairs and end of the driveway so we could go out shopping. The sun and warm temperatures had melted most of the snow in the driveway.
As we were checking out at Sears, we found out that many of the people in the towns around us were without power and there were no generators to be had for miles around. Those without power were told it could be five to 10 days to get it all turned back on.
Two days later there is still snow on the ground and people’s power is starting to go back on. Given the potential for disaster, we got through it without much trouble or mess. Now we’re just hoping the storm wasn’t a preview of the winter to come.