Nor’easter Dumps
1-2 Feet of Snow

Central Vermont Public Service worker Bruce Burbine removes snow from the Beanville Road substation in Randolph following last weekend's big storm. Up to 28 inches were reported in various towns in Central Vermont, and the ski areas received three feet of the white stuff. The storm cancelled many Saturday activities, but others took place as scheduled, and normal business was hardly disrupted. (Herald photo / Robert Eddy)

Bear Mountain in Brookfield frequently gets some of the highest precipitation levels in the area, and it led the official reports again this past weekend.

Brookfield’s U.S. Cooperative weather observers Larry and Joyce Brassard said this week that the two-day nor’easter left 25 inches of snow in their Bear Mountain farmyard.

Windy conditions whipped the light snow into drifts, making it difficult for most weather recorders in the area to measure snow depth.

Virginia Perkins, U.S. Cooperative weather observer in Bethel said she measured the snow in several areas and then averaged the amounts to get her official 15 inches for the two-day storm. It was a tactic most weather reporters had to use.

Perkins said she was surprised to find only 15 inches after two days of wild weather. The 15 inches melted down into only about one inch of water, making this a relatively "dry snow," she said.

The only observer not reporting big drifts was Rochester’s Brad Johnson, who lives near Route 100, in a "pretty sheltered" location at the base of the mountains. He recorded 21 inches of snow on Sunday morning, with another two-to-three inches later that day.

The winds were definitely felt in Rochester, however. Johnson, who was out plowing, reported that "visibility was about zero most of the time I was out."

Lightest snow reports came from David Boyce in Chelsea, who recorded 13.25 inches for the storm, with depths ranging from nine to 15 inches.

Boyce observed that the Brookfield heights seem to wring out most of the moisture as systems travel east to Chelsea. His totals are consistently lower than the Brassards', he said.

(Fellow "weather nuts" may wish to check out the detailed weather records Boyce maintains at: www2.innevi.com/~rboyce/index.htm.)

Kevin Doering, another weather buff in Randolph Center, employed the averaging technique to come up with a total of 16-18 inches of snow. In the fields around his home, Doering measured snow depths ranging from nine to 36 inches.

Longtime weather observer Mim Herwig of Randolph Center recorded wind gusts of up to 40 mph on Saturday, and 45 mph on Sunday. Those winds swept the ground bare in some areas, while leaving "ocean waves" of snow in others, she observed.

Despite the weather, sponsors of the various events and Christmas bazaars over the weekend reported impressive crowds. Randolph’s annual Fantasy Parade, scheduled for Saturday, however was postponed. It has been re-scheduled for this Saturday at 1 p.m.

Meanwhile, police and tow trucks put in some overtime. Betty Tabor at the Bethel state police barracks reported that troopers were repeatedly called out for weather-related accidents on Saturday and again Sunday.

"There was nothing major," she said. "Probably 95-98% of them were pull-backs (of vehicles off the roads)."

By Sandy Cooch