Near whiteout conditions were evidenced during much of the day Thursday, while the first Nor'easter of the year hovered over Newtown.Snow Berms And Other ThoughtsFirst Selectman Ride-Along[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-299819" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Jan-4-Noreaster-recap-D-Rosenthal-A-Capozziello.jpg" alt="Jan 4 Nor'easter recap -- D Rosenthal & A Capozziello" width="800" height="600" /]First Selectman Daniel Rosenthal spent five hours getting a firsthand look at the operations of Public Works employees during a winter snowstorm. Mr Rosenthal, left, traveled with Public Works Crew Chief Anthony Capozziello on Thursday, January 4. The first selectman came away from the experience with a whole new appreciation of the work done by those town employees, he said. 

Snow and winds arrived before daybreak on January 4, and continued all day and well into the night. Newtown received 12.6 inches of fresh snow, according to tallies recorded at the Western Connecticut State University Weather Center. While a high wind gust number was unavailable for Newtown, the Danbury weather center did record maximum gusts of 61 miles per hour in Stamford, 47 in Fairfield, and 42 in Bridgeport.

The storm was a typical Nor'easter, said Gary Lessor, assistant to the director of meteorological studies at WCSU.

"It was a rapidly intensifying storm system," Mr Lessor said Friday morning. While many had been hyping the storm as a "cyclone bomb" or "bomb cyclone," Mr Lessor explained that that term is "just the latest term to explain when you have a pressure drop of 24 millibars in 24 hours or less.

"Just a few years ago this was called bombogenesis, but it's all the same thing," he said. "It's nothing that anyone should get all excited about. It was your typical Nor'easter, and just a few places had blizzard conditions."

Newtown was never under a blizzard warning, Mr Lessor pointed out. While conditions were bad at times, there was never visibility of one-quarter of a mile or less, with winds that frequently gusted, for three consecutive hours, he explained. Newtown remained under a National Weather Society Winter Storm Warning, and experienced a strong winter snowstorm.

Power outages were few, and most people stayed off the roads, taking the advice of multiple officials who were suggesting just that.

Town plows were out on the roads by 3 am, according to Public Works Director Fred Hurley.

"The idea behind that was to have the roads treated as we were going into the rush hour," he said Friday morning. "The last thing we wanted was to be out in the middle of rush hour, trying to put sand and salt down, which worked really well."

The storm "really intensified" between 6 and 7 am, Mr Hurley said.

The town trucks ran well during the during the storm, he said.

"We had one or two problems, parts issues that we couldn't get from the vendors until today, but for the most part we ran really well during the storm," he said. "Breakdowns did not cause major delays, as they have in other storms."

A few residential mailboxes were damaged or destroyed during the weather event. For the amount of snow that fell, and the energy needed to move all of that precipitation, it was not a surprise to the public works director that a few mailboxes were casualties of the snow-clearing effort.

"That's not a big surprise," Mr Hurley said, "for the amount of snow that we got, that's a low number."

Residents who have mailboxes damaged or destroyed through town plowing efforts should contact Public Works as soon as possible, at 203-270-4300. Public Works employees will respond to calls and put at least a temporary fix in place so that mail delivery is not interrupted, Mr Hurley said.

Town crews worked until midnight, and used approximately 300-400 tons of salt, and about the same in cubic yards of sand, said the public works director.

"We don't have the full load sheets yet," Mr Hurley said, but the numbers will probably remain on the lower end due to the type of weather event with which crews were contending. The nor'easter was more of a plowing event than a materials event, he pointed out.

"Where we use a lot of material is when we get a freezing rain event, which is when we use more materials," he explained. "This was one where we touched up the roads, did a lot of plowing, and then touched up as needed at the end of the storm."

Roads and parking lots, such as those at the public schools, were "cleaned up by midnight," Mr Hurley said. Town crews were supplemented by Parks & Rec crews, school employees, and contracted drivers. Drifts continued, Mr Hurley said, "to a certain extent during the night, but it was not nearly as bad as we had been concerned about."

Mr Hurley said that there were 40 power outages reported during the day.

"That dropped to ten by suppertime, though, so there did not appear to be a need to open a shelter," he added.

Firefighters were sent to a few locations during the day where trees or branches were reported on wires, but only one location was bad enough to merit a road closure. A tree on wires blocked Butterfield Road for a few hours, Mr Hurley said, "but they got that cleared by early evening and opened that road back up.

"We did not have a lot of trees down, even with the wind," he added, "and that was good news."

While roads and lots were cleared last night, and gusts may have put some snow back into town roadways, Mr Hurley said there is one thing that should never happen: snow berms.

"What may happen today, that's going to cause issues, is where people have their driveways plowed out, into roads, and then we have a lot of people who call us and tell us that we forgot to plow a road," he said. When town crews respond to such calls, he said, they often find that was has happened is not that a road was missed by a municipal crew. What they discover is that a private contractor or resident has plowed a driveway out into the road, rather than the other way around.

A local ordinance, and a state law, says that snow cannot be pushed or shoveled into roadways. That practice often leaves small piles of snow, or berms, that can freeze and create an unexpected bump in an already compromised roadway.

Doing so can result in a fine. State law allows a $50 fine per incident.

A town ordinance also provides for a wintertime on-road parking ban to facilitate snow removal.

"For the most part people were terrific," Mr Hurley said. "Most were cooperative, and most used their head, and that makes our job so much easier."

One of the passengers in one of the town trucks yesterday was First Selectman Daniel Rosenthal. Mr Rosenthal spent five hours riding with Public Works Crew Chief Anthony Capozziello, who provided a firsthand look at the roads and the work done by fellow Public Works employees during the height of the storm.

"We met around 2, and headed out to Butterfield Road," Mr Rosenthal said Friday morning. "One of the town drivers had actually gotten stuck, so Anthony was able to use chains and get him out, and get him on his way."

Mr Rosenthal's day started at 5 am, he said, when he checked in with Public Works Director Fred Hurley, "to see how things were going."

Mr Rosenthal had initially planned to open town offices, "but with some better information and clarity," he said, "I decided to close them." A CodeRED was issued, and notices posted on the town website, informing town employees that they were to stay home for the day. Through the message, residents were also given noticed that town offices would be closed on January 4.

While his day started early, the first selectman acknowledged that the town crews had started even earlier.

When he caught up with Mr Capozziello to begin the ride-along, "they were already 11 hours into their day," Mr Rosenthal said. "When I left him, Anthony was going for dinner, and then going back out for a few more hours to go back through his neighborhoods, to drop more sand."

Plowing and sanding town roads during a storm is monotonous work, Mr Rosenthal learned.

"There was a lot of wind blowing yesterday, so by the time Anthony got back to some of the locations he had already plowed, a lot of snow had blown back into the road," Mr Rosenthal said. "In that kind of storm it's a constant effort. You're going back to the same roads, cleaning the same intersections.

"Over the course of a 15- or 16- or 17-hour day, that's a lot of work," he continued. "They were doing it over and over again, and they were doing it very well."

What was nice to witness, he said, was how many people showed simple gratitude as the town trucks drove past those already out clearing their driveways.

"It was nice to see people waving to the plow when they went by," he noted. "When the crews are out working hard, it's nice to see that they're appreciated, with a nice wave or gestures.

"That caught my attention, that almost everyone we went by acknowledged them," he said.

Mr Rosenthal has a new appreciation for the 616,884 linear feet of roadway that has to be cleared after every storm, and for those who work to care for them.

"I went down to the Public Works garage last night," Mr Rosenthal said, "and there was one gentleman down there who had been loading the trucks with sand all day.

"It's a constant operation, and they do it all day long," he said. "I was very impressed to see that as well."

Mr Rosenthal was also pleased with the small number of private vehicles on the roads during the storm.

"I think the job was made easier by the fact that people listened, and stayed off the roads," he said. "The job is hard enough with that kind of snow, which was coming down pretty heavy all day, until about 4 pm.

"To be out there plowing in heavy winds, and reasonably heavy snow, and having to avoid cars, makes the job go that much longer, and takes that much more effort to get the job done," Mr Rosenthal said.

After joking that residents never know when he might show up plowing their roads, Mr Rosenthal - who was sworn in for his first term on November 19 and took office on December 1 - promised that the ride during the storm does not signal a career change.

"No, I just rode around yesterday. They don't let me drive the plow," he said with a laugh. "And no one wants me to."

-photo courtesy Daniel Rosenthal

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-299820" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/SH_Jan-4-snow-08-snow-blower-at-Betts-Square-WATERMARKED.jpg" alt="SH_Jan 4 snow 08 -- snow blower at Betts Square WATERMARKED" width="600" height="903" /]A man works to clear snow from the lower lot at Betts Square, 113 Church Hill Road, Thursday afternoon. Newtown received 12.6 inches by the end of the first Nor'easter of the year. 

-Bee Photo, Hicks

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-299823" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/SH_Jan-4-snow-04-near-whiteout-looking-south-on-Queen-Street-WATERMARKED.jpg" alt="SH_Jan 4 snow 04 -- near whiteout looking south on Queen Street WATERMARKED" width="800" height="534" /]Near whiteout conditions occurred on Thursday, but never long enough to merit the storm being called a blizzard, according to officials at the WCSU Weather Center. The approaching truck in this photo is in front of Newtown Middle School. The photo was taken on Queen Street; Barnwood Grill is to the left of this frame, and My Place Restaurant and Queen Street Shopping Center are to the right.

-Bee Photo, Hicks

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-299825" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/SH_Jan-4-snow-05-plow-truck-working-on-Queen-Street-WATERMARKED.jpg" alt="SH_Jan 4 snow 05 -- plow truck working on Queen Street WATERMARKED" width="800" height="446" /]

A plow driver makes headway clearing the driveway of Church Hill & Queen, the business complex at the corner of Church Hill Road and Queen Street, early Thursday afternoon.

-Bee Photo, Hicks

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-299827" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/SH_Jan-4-snow-06-Eversource-truck-heading-west-on-Church-Hill-Road-WATERMARKED.jpg" alt="SH_Jan 4 snow 06 -- Eversource truck heading west on Church Hill Road WATERMARKED" width="801" height="531" /]

An Eversource truck heads up Church Hill Road Thursday afternoon. About 40 power outages were reported in Newtown during Thursday's snowstorm, according to Public Works Director Fred Hurley. Most were taken care of by early evening, he added. 

-Bee Photo, Hicks

[naviga:img class="aligncenter wp-image-299829" src="https://newtownbee.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/SH_Jan-4-snow-11-heading-west-on-Washington-Avenue-WATERMARKED.jpg" alt="SH_Jan 4 snow 11 -- heading west on Washington Avenue WATERMARKED" width="800" height="453" /]

Thanks to homes on Washington Avenue and some lingering holiday decorations, a few pops of color lightened an otherwise bleak day. Snow fell across the region from before daybreak until about 4 pm January 4. Winds continued into the night, returning snow to roads and walkways that had already been plowed or shoveled. 

-Bee Photo, Hicks