West Virginia crippled by massive snow storm

Early Snow Pummels West Virginia

Parts of West Virginia were digging out from up to three feet of snow dumped in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, a deluge that cut power to hundreds of thousands of residents and shut down main highways.

The thick blanket of snow at higher elevations across the ridges of the Appalachian Mountains, including in parts of Maryland and Pennsylvania, also brought concerns that rivers and creeks in low-lying areas could flood later in the week as the snow melts, with temperatures expected to reach 60 degrees. Falling trees and storm-related traffic accidents claimed the lives of three people in Maryland, three in Pennsylvania and one in West Virginia, state officials said Tuesday.

Close to 300,000 West Virginia residents were without power Tuesday afternoon, as high winds and heavy snow snapped branches and downed power lines, and officials expected the number to rise. Outages at several utilities had left some areas without access to water, and officials were sending out trucks to deliver bottled water.




online.wsj.com...


We've been seeing the news about the areas flooded with water, but not much about the snow storm in WV in the aftermath of Sandy..........

Trucks to send out bottled water....... when there are 3 feet of snow. Hmmmm...... what's in the water, I wonder? How about fuel? So a person can heat themselves and utilize this new scientific discovery..... if you can melt snow, you end up with.... wait..... water! No bottles to dispose of, no BHA in the plastic to poison the immune system. Fuel is far more useful in a cold condition than bottles of water! Yes, we can't go long without water but its every where in another form right there. As everyone needs a fair bit of water each day..... that's a lot of fuel used to carry a lot of bottles of water rather than fuel itself! My prayers go out for everyone on the East Coast.

Damn that looks cold.....brrrrrr.

How quickly is the flip from a regular temperature to an ice age? Because I'm starting to feel pretty confident we're about to be thrown into one at whiplash speed.

Originally posted by Socrato
How quickly is the flip from a regular temperature to an ice age? Because I'm starting to feel pretty confident we're about to be thrown into one at whiplash speed.

I don't really feel a change to all cold weather as much as unusual temperatures and temperature changes. For example all that cold weather discussed in the OP seems a bit early, but the warm temperature we are experiencing over here (Portland, OR) seems just as strange. I saw on a forcast that it could reach 69 F over here, much warmer than usual for this time of year.

Oh that and the longest period of no rain during the period from July 1st - Sep 30th on record by a long shot.

Only a quarter-inch fell at Portland International Airport from July 1 through Sept. 30, according the National Weather Service. That's less than half the previous record for the driest July through September, set 60 years ago.

www.oregonlive.com...

Edit: Oh, and does anybody have some more good pics of this snowfall? I would really like to see the extent of this myself.

reply to post by snarky412


I think this is the most under-hyped story of Sandy's devastation. These people were pounded and really was not ready for what hit them.

The death toll in this area will slowly rise as people dig out and then they have to deal with the flooding afterwards, truly devastating.

My heart goes out to these people as they continue to battle Sandy's devastation.

reply to post by Renegade2283


I just did a Google image search, should get you started

Sandy Snowstorm Pictures

I got this from the Google link I posted



That is insane ...

reply to post by Tazkven


Wow, now that is completely insane, and I totally agree that this didn't get enough attention.

I can not imagine having to deal with so much snow. I would be concerned for the stability of my house with all that snow on it, and the threat from falling trees, not to mention the multitude of other problems like flooding and power outages.

Anyways, thanks for taking the time to post that, star for you

whoops wrong pic, I had two


There we go, keep in mind I am pretty sure that these are not the final counts. Does anybody have that?

It was way early in the season for such a huge snowfall but for the most part the people of WV know how to deal with this and will get by. Biggest problem is for those with medical needs and trying to move them anywhere. It's still a disaster for sure and the resulting flooding could be worse than the effects of the snow.
I hope everyone up there gets through this safely.

reply to post by Renegade2283


Those are some crazy numbers even in the middle of winter, much less at the end of October.

I was watching a news report and saw a guy shoveling snow outside his home and the awning above his front porch was bowed from the foot or so of snow on top of it, if that fell as you was walking out your front door being the heavy wet snow that it is, could probably kill someone. I was sitting there thinking, Wow, I would be clearing that off not my driveway/sidewalk ...

Huge? where?
Just a little snow, Im from Sweden and here when we get alot of snow we get ALOT of snow.

But seriusly how much snow did you get and do west virginia get snow this time of year?

reply to post by snarky412


West Virginia crippled by massive snow storm

Now I am not ragging on you OP as much as some might think...however the above is an example of how to install drama into a topic. The majority of that title is sensational buzz words...

I am a Colorado native...snow here can be pretty gnarly...crippling ya I guess I could call the el nino storm that was 5-6 feet with 10 foot drifts "crippling" but a couple feet...hmm Maybe for those areas if they don't have the plows or sand for the roads it could be crippling.

WV will be fine...the other areas will be fine...they got some snow...and they will learn to manage it and they will all have something to talk about over the next few weeks coffee and doughnuts...

When Colorado had an earthquake last year it was a 5.0 most of us were kinda "shaken" (pun intended) but ultimately in perspective it was pretty insignificant the only significance being of the rarity of EQ's here...

People in Cali were laughing at us and rolling their eyes and well Colorado survived just fine a few 90 year old buildings got naturally decommissioned but FEMA wasn't needed.

As far as the elderly go...they are an "issue" of concern in any location that isn't a hermetically sealed climate controlled bubble...I'm not saying this to be insensitive but to call a thing a thing...the elderly are fragile and anything outside the norm is potentially life threatening...this is the nature of the beast of being elderly...

When the snow hits 5 feet and the power goes out and people can't heat their homes or get food/water....then I would think that would be a crippling massive snow storm...till then I personally think its..."just snow"....

Originally posted by Tazkven
I got this from the Google link I posted

That is insane ...

I almost want to jump from the roof into it But then again, at 5'2 I might not get out

reply to post by innervision0730


Jump Away ... I'll dig you out

West Virginians are a different crop. In contact with a friend that lives there, he's posting pictures and his children are playing in the snow. They expect this, and are used to this. Many are farmers with their own supplies set in, and survival skills. Very tough people. They play bluegrass medleys on the porch.

Originally posted by Socrato
How quickly is the flip from a regular temperature to an ice age? Because I'm starting to feel pretty confident we're about to be thrown into one at whiplash speed.

Looks like about 48 hours from Tropical Storm to Blizzard! That is a pretty quick flip.

But, it also happens to be the active end of a tropical season, and the typical beginning of winter season, so no big surprise really.

reply to post by Tazkven


That's quite a bit of snow for folks that aren't used to it.

It looks like another winter day to me where I live

Originally posted by Monstret
Huge? where?
Just a little snow, Im from Sweden and here when we get alot of snow we get ALOT of snow.

But seriusly how much snow did you get and do west virginia get snow this time of year?

I'd like to know how much snow they get in West Virginia too -- last year we had 134 inches (around 11 feet) of snow over the winter.

One snowstorm piled up 3 feet just over night. I still drove and made it to work that morning though. Nothing was shut down, business as usual.

I'm guessing nobody has studded snow tires or 4WD/AWD vehicles in West Virginia. Having that helps A LOT! Palin's remark about Subaru's pissed off a lot of people here ... even hardcore Republicans here drive Subarus and she should have known better!