More than 1 million lose power during rare October storm

[The Northerner]

NEW YORK — A rare October snowstorm bore down on the heavily populated U.S. Northeast on Saturday, knocking out power to 1.5 million customers, delaying flights and threatening some areas with up to a foot of snow.

By 2 p.m. EDT, New York City had broken an October snow record with 1.3 inches in Central Park, making this the snowiest October there since records began being kept in 1869, NBC New York reported.

Snow was coming down hard from central Pennsylvania to southeastern New York and Connecticut after hitting parts of Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland earlier in the day.

More than 1.5 million customers lost power in Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland, and utilities were bringing in crews from Ohio and Kentucky to help restore it. Officials had warned that the heavy, wet snow combined with fully leafed trees could lead to downed tree branches and power lines, resulting in power outages and blocked roads.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45086542/ns/weather/#.Tqxv3LJf_gd

[NutmegYankee]

1. I'm concerned I wil be among them.

I was out for a week back in the summer from Irene. So far we have 4 inches down, and it is very wet and heavy. Winds are picking up and I hear branches snapping every so often.

[KittyWampus]

6. Wind has picked up considerably on eastern LI. And that blob of snow

on the weather satellite is moving down in our direction.

[ixion]

2. No gas cans or generators

per Bloomberg's proclamation that they're a safety hazard. :sarcasm:

[RKP5637]

4. Yep! Biggest safety hazard I see in this country are the 1%. n/t

[occupyeverywhere]

3. Freak Nor'easter

no big deal

[NutmegYankee]

15. It's a big deal.

I lost power for most of the day because tree branches were snapping off and taking out lines. We are taking damage in Conn.

[bananas]

5. Trick-or-treaters can sing Christmas carols as they go door-to-door. nt

[Jamastiene]

7. Damn, and I was jealous others were going to get some actual cold weather.

Where I live, it is 90+ degrees about 6 months out of the year and we have no real Spring or Fall to speak of. Winter is more like what Fall is in other places.

I was jealous some might get some actual freezing temperatures and maybe even some early snow. Now, I feel like an ass for it. Having that without power can't be a good thing. I just hope everyone can stay safe and get their power back on quickly.

[undergroundpanther]

12. It really sucks when powers out and snow has made you housebound.

The year we had"Snowmageddon",We live near Baltimore but farther north so we got clobbered worse than DC did. My roommate had a small generator that could run one little space heater and a light.Since the furnace starter was out,it was cold as hell, here.. We made the best of it,used a lot of candles, got every blanket we could find, used layers and layers until we felt like swollen ticks.However it was funny when my cat Bear was on some medications that gave him gas that would stink incredibly bad at the time. Bear was sitting with Sparkle my other cat,close the little heater's intake and farted. The heater warmed his fart up making it stink even worse and blew around and around the room,we all were too cold to leave the room, we endured it and laughed and were careful to keep Bear's butt away from the air intake... When the generator wasn't heating the living room where we all stayed,because the heater could not run forever,it's element would get too hot, the generator charged our phones and was powering my roommates laptop .Since we had nothing else to do,we watched with baited breath the power outage repairs across the area, represented by dots slowly going away ,hoping we would get power next,we made bets, as we watched this, and we were ninth from the very last person in our area to get power back on,and by then all the blankets and huddling and teeny space heater and strategic candle placements and anything else we did to keep the cold out was not keeping us as warm anymore.The tons of snow outside and the insane cold temperatures and wind out there was still cooling despite the house having good insulation.It got a bit scary when we couldn't stop shivering and our toes and fingers were numbed a bit even with gloves on .It sucks to lose power in the winter.We put all our frozen stuff and stuff that could be frozen in the snow, and the stuff that had to stay cold stayed cold it worked well and saved our food too.

[sam11111]

8. UNDERGROUND electric cables in Socialist areas of Europe have far fewer outages

Nationalized elec utilities use money to bury wires...don't suck money away for owner's luxury yachts and private jets.

Socialist areas don't have much to fear from falling trees and ice storms.

Lifelong security is more than just a slogan.

[Tesha]

9. Here in New Hampshire, we're gonna join 'em any moment now!

Flicker, flash, click, beeeepppppp...

Tesha

[Tesha]

11. We're running on the iPad and AT&T's batteries now, listening to tree limbs breaking.

Pro'ly time to say "Good night.."

Tesha

[NutmegYankee]

16. Here's to hoping for a swift restoration of power.

:toast:

I was out from 6 PM until 3:30 AM. I just got back online.

[Tesha]

17. In our area, it's unlikely to be swift.

The three-phase feeder from the substation towards
our neighborhood has major faults on it that have to
be cleared. Farther on, it gets even worse.

The feeder to the adjacent town was outright torn
down.

It'll all come down to a question of the power company's
restoration priorities.

Tesha

[Puzzledtraveller]

10. Beware if a man calling himself Linoge shows up at your door

This post made me want to watch Storm of The Century.

[apocalypsehow]

13. "Give me what I want and I'll go away." - Great pick up line, too.

:thumbsup:

[footinmouth]

14. Been there, done that

for 10 miserable days in 2006. I'm in the western New York area and we got clobbered in October. I think the 5-year anniversary was just last week. We were woefully unprepared. Power was out, traffic signals were out, the streets were full of tree limbs so plows couldn't come by either. We lost our power around 5 pm on Thursday, finally were able to drive out on Saturday and stock up on batteries, flashlights, handwarmers etc. We also got ourselves a generator. They were very hard to come by.

I wish all of you the best of luck and you have my sympathy. It's no fun. Sending you all warm hugs from snow-free (for the moment) Buffalo.