First Storms Of The Season

Dropped More Than A Foot Of Snow

By Kendra Bobowick

The first flakes settled like chalk dust, covering cars, rooftops, and walkways with a thin film Friday morning. Pretty at first, the snow fell with dangerous haste to quickly snarl traffic and overrun the walkways of anyone without a shovel on December 19. With a high of 28 degrees that day, roughly eight inches of snowfall would layer the streets and pile like cone-shaped hats pointing skyward from atop fire hydrants, birdbaths, and the upturned and dried faces of summer’s last flowers.

By Saturday morning, the sun rose on the final day of autumn with Newtown and the region tucked beneath more than a half foot of snow. Western Connecticut State University Weather Center Assistant Director Gary Lessor described a storm that dropped snow on landscapes that don’t normally see the white stuff.

Noting a “very active jet stream,” Mr Lessor explained that the storm began in Los Angeles on Tuesday, moved through Las Vegas on Wednesday, and Friday was “our turn.” Does this mean a snow-filled winter for New England? Making a daunting prediction, he said, “A lot of times if you get a lot of snow in November it could be a snowy winter; but December? Not necessarily,” he said.

Officially, his WCSU weather station’s forecast is for a cold and snowy winter. Normal snowfall for a year is 48 inches, but his station’s prediction is for 60 inches this season, which already has more than a foot to its credit. The weather station data indicated snowfall in Danbury on Friday at eight inches, half an inch the following day, and another four inches arrived on Sunday.

The region already is colder and more snow-filled than last year. This year on December 19 the high was 28 degrees, compared with last year’s high of 39, a day that also saw .13 inches of rain. Last year on December 20 the high was 39 degrees with no precipitation, and on December 21 the high was 33 with a trace of snow.

Even with the high rate of precipitation, the state did not need to shut down Friday.

“Friday was very intense, [with] snow falling at rates of two inches per hour,” Mr Lessor reported. “There are usually only a couple of storms with such intensity during the winter.”

While WCSU keeps track of storms, locally the Newtown Highway Department worried about what was hitting the ground. Public Works Department Director Fred Hurley said things “went smoothly, considering the weather.” Roads were cleared, mostly down to the pavement he said Monday, following a weekend of snowfall that found residents on sleds, snowmobiles, and traveling in four-wheel-drive wherever they went.

Physically, the plow work took its toll on tired crews who had been “in and out during the storms,” since Friday, while they cleaned the roads, trying to keep up with the snowfall. Saturday crews sanded spots that had iced over, and on Sunday they out plowing and sanding again.

Despite the inevitable mailboxes that succumb to the plow, the work went well during the weekend, leaving Mr Hurley with one reminder: shovel snow to the right side of a driveway. When the plow goes by it will push the snow away from the driveway, rather than pushing it back in from the left-hand side.

Winter Guidelines

When clearing a driveway, a state statute (Nuisances on Highways; 19A-335) makes it illegal to push snow or ice from private driveways and walks onto town roads. This is particularly dangerous if done after the plows have completed their runs. Pushing snow and ice into the road can be a serious safety hazard.

The fine for violating this statute is $50.

Residents are also reminded that the police department recently reenacted its wintertime vehicle parking ban. Vehicles that are parked and left unattended overnight on town roads often interfere with town snow removal following snow storms, according to police. The parking law covers the period from sunset to sunrise.

If a parked, unattended vehicle is determined to be a nuisance in terms of snow removal, it may be towed away by police at the expense of the vehicle’s owner or the person in control of the vehicle. Also, vehicle storage fees may apply.

The fine for violating the town’s wintertime overnight parking ordinance is $49.