This summary of Winter Storm Juno also appears in The Newtown Bee print edition of January 30, 2015. Stories by Bee Editorial staff were also posted online as the storm approached, arrived and then dispersed earlier this week.

On an electronic weather map, the distance between Newtown and Norwich appears to be scant inches.

But residents on opposite ends of Connecticut were measuring their differences in feet Tuesday, January 27, as Winter Storm Juno dealt the state’s eastern counties significantly higher snow totals than the most affected neighborhoods in Hawleyville, Botsford, Sandy Hook, or Dodgingtown.

At around noon Tuesday, Newtown’s Emergency Communications Director Maureen Will told The Newtown Bee that town Highway Department crews were “doing a great job.”

At that point, however, she was still warning residents who were thinking about venturing out that town officials still wanted people to stay home as visibility remained low in some places with blowing and drifting snow.

She said Newtown’s Emergency Operations and Communications Center was fully staffed and was fielding routine calls during most of the diminished snow event, which was downgraded from a blizzard to a winter storm earlier that morning.

The emergency communications director also expressed appreciation to residents who followed both a local on-street parking ban and a statewide travel ban imposed Monday evening at 9 pm by Governor Dannel P. Malloy.

“Please thank people for us for keeping cars off roadside and not plowing into roads,” Ms Will said.

Newtown officials echoed Gov Malloy, who held a series of press conferences to keep state residents apprized of conditions.

Following an 8:30 am lifting of a travel ban he imposed for Fairfield and Litchfield Counties, the governor announced at a noon press briefing on Tuesday that he would lift the remainder of the state’s travel ban at 2 pm.

“I want to thank the residents of Connecticut for heeding the warnings and staying off the road,” he said. “We were able to reduce accidents on the highways and allow DOT workers to clear the roads.”

Gov Malloy coordinated the decision with Massachusetts and Rhode Island officials who initiated similar temporary bans.

The governor also informed all state employees that they were expected to report to work as scheduled on Wednesday, January 28.

At his 9 am press meeting on Tuesday, as the heaviest bands of Storm Juno were receding eastward, the governor responded to a reporter’s observation about lower-than-expected snowfall totals, saying, “You dodged a bullet. It’s not good news for folks that have two feet of snow on their front lawn.”

He reiterated that most communities along the I-395 corridor “generally got two feet or more.”

At 9:45 am Tuesday, CL&P was reporting only 43 outages systemwide, and none in Newtown.

Gov Malloy also asked municipal residents to clear fire hydrants so responders could easily access them in case of an emergency, a key public safety service that is requested during any significant snowfall. Newtown Fire Marshal Bill Hastead earlier this week asked Newtown residents and business owners to do the same locally.

Local Roads

By 1 pm Tuesday, Newtown Police reported that local roads were in passable condition, but Sergeant Jeffrey Silver continued recommending residents restrict local travel. “We still need to get rid of some of the ice underneath,” he said.

A contact at the Newtown Highway Department echoed that caution, saying while plows were working to keep snow cleared, high winds continued to blow drifts back onto roadways. Highway Supervisor Joe Tani said many local roads still had some early afternoon snow cover with an undercoating of slick ice.

He said, however, that crews put down melting material ahead of the storm Monday, so once falling and blowing snow stopped, it would make it easier to melt any remaining hardpack down to the road surfaces.

On Wednesday, Police Sergeant Aaron Bahamonde said, “We’re happy to say that the public took heed of the warnings” concerning the blizzardlike storm that was predicted for the area on January 26-27.

The lack of tractor-trailer truck traffic greatly reduced the risk of traffic congestion during the storm, Sgt Bahamonde said.

In Newtown, only two motor vehicle accidents were reported during the storm, he said.

At about 9:30 pm on January 26, the adult male driver of an all-terrain vehicle traveling on Yogananda Street in Sandy Hook apparently lost control of the ATV and struck a utility pole, police said. The driver then fled the scene of the crash. Police are investigating the incident and expect to file charges against the unidentified man.

Also, at about 1:30 pm on January 27, motorist Diane Petraglia, 65, of Stratford was driving a 2007 Suzuki SX4 compact car near 75 South Main Street, when the vehicle slid on the snowy road surface and struck a guardpost along the northbound road shoulder, police said. There were no injuries. Ms Petraglia received a written warning for traveling too fast for conditions, police said.

Other than those two accidents, the storm period was uneventful, Sgt Bahamonde said.

Plowing Into The Street

Fred Hurley, director of public works, said, “Generally speaking, the storm was not as bad as we had been told.”

The town was well-prepared to deal with the snowfall, he added.

Mr Hurley, however, pointed to a problem which occurred a “couple hundred” times across town after the storm, during the snow removal process: many private snowplow drivers illegally plowed snow from private properties onto local roads and left it there.

The problem has been a persistent one in the wintertime and has gotten worse over the years, he said. “You should always plow in and not plow out” from a property, Mr Hurley said.

 Mr Hurley said he expects that private snowplow drivers who are seeking to plow as many properties as quickly as possible and ignorance of the local law on snow control contribute to the problem.

“It’s really upsetting to [town] plow drivers” who find that roads which they have already cleared of snow become obstructed with snow that is plowed from private properties onto those previously cleared roadways, Mr Hurley said.

The illegal practice is unfair to the town at large and unfair to the residents who live on the affected roads, he said, adding that the police have been advised to prevent such activity from occurring in the future.

In a statement, police said this week that plowing snow from private driveways and walkways onto roadways is illegal and dangerous, noting that private snowplow drivers and homeowners are legally liable when snow is plowed onto roadways. Such incidents may result in $50 fines, per incident, based on state law.

Police urge that the snow plowed at a property be kept on that property.

Snow plowed onto roadways causes narrowed roadways, resulting in travel problems for emergency services personnel seeking access to properties, police said.

Other than the obstructed roadways created by the snowplowing problem, things generally went well following the storm, Mr Hurley said. Residents cooperated with the travel ban and stayed off the roads as requested; very few vehicles were traveling on the roads on the night of January 26, he said.

Many local businesses closed in light of the travel ban, he added.

Around Town

Taking advantage of relatively clear streets and a snow day off from work and school, many residents on Tuesday stepped out into the blustery, frigid day bundled in parkas and hats, with snow shovels in hand.

On Grand Place Terrace, two younger residents and their father were headed to the neighbor’s house to help clear snow from the walkways. The Masottas, Noah, 8, his sister Ivy, almost 5, and their father John stood at the curb with their dog Lainey.

Throughout town were homeowners walking behind snowblowers or bent over shovels. At the bottom of Church Hill Road in Sandy Hook Center, Michael Porco, Jr, and crews from Porco Construction Co. Inc cleared sidewalks and parking lots. Road traffic was light Tuesday afternoon, comprising mostly plow trucks.

While many pushed snow out of the way, Mother Nature effortlessly threw some back. Gusting winds carried swirling snow across driveways and streets, and looked like fog drifting along the open fields and between buildings in Fairfield Hills. Working to keep the municipal space plowed were town trucks and staff, including John Benvenuti, who traced a route along the curb.

By midafternoon many children stopped for hot chocolate at Dunkin’ Donuts on Queen Street, where they thawed after a day sledding at Treadwell Park. 

A Connecticut DOT truck heads west on Church Hill Road Monday, January 26, passing through the Queen Street intersection. “Rush hour” was anything but rushing, with many people taking the advice of town and state officials to get off the roads as early as possible once Winter Storm Juno arrived.    

John Masotta and his children Noah, 8, left, and Ivy, almost five, walk through the snow Tuesday with their dog Lainey. The Grand Place residents are crossing the street to help a neighbor clean snow.

Dan Holmes of Holmes Fine Gardens heads north on Glen Road, passing his shop, after the snow tapered off early Tuesday afternoon.

Snowshoers cut across a lower field at the Holcombe Hill Wildlife Preserve Tuesday, January 27, after Winter Storm Juno's fresh coating of snow had been laid smoothly across the property.                                                                             

Newtown Public Works Crew Chief Anthony Capozziello witnessed a beautiful dawn on Wednesday, January 28, the morning after Winter Storm Juno finished dropping about a foot of snow on town. Mr Capozziello stopped his town truck long enough to capture this view, “which was there and then gone in less than five minutes,” he said. Mr Capozziello and other town employees were still working to clear the roads, about 40 hours after the storm arrived in town.