Snow!

[hans]

What a waste! And there I thought Americans love their wood fires and stoves...

Out walking the dunes in t-shirt today.
There was a shark attack reported just along the coast, apparently the first in UK waters, and we are 57 degrees North. The hardy swimmers are scared.

[brewerpaul]

The snow was very variable from place to place-- even places not that far from each other. Here in Clifton Park NY (between Albany and Saratoga) we got a whopping 1". Our power went out for 4 hours after the storm ended. Go figure.
Other people I work with reported snow up to 24" (Pittsfield MA) with just about everything in between.

[I.D.10-t]

What a waste! And there I thought Americans love their wood fires and stoves...

We have a place that works with the tree removal companies to make simple products like cutting boards and picture frames from local trees. They came by while some trees with Dutch elm disease were being removed outside.

~~~~

I can understand transportation being messed up, due to not having things ramped up for winter snow yet, but was the snow that far out of the ordinary to cause the amount of damage to the electric lines?

[Seonachan]

I can understand transportation being messed up, due to not having things ramped up for winter snow yet, but was the snow that far out of the ordinary to cause the amount of damage to the electric lines?

The fact that most trees are still full of leaves made them much easier to get weighed down with the wet snow, so there were a lot more downed trees than would be the case in a similar wintertime storm. Also, there were probably a lot of standing trees that were 1) weakened but not downed by Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene and 2) oversaturated from the unusually rainy autumn. This storm cut power to more people in CT than Irene did.

[robert schuler]

What a waste! And there I thought Americans love their wood fires and stoves...

I love burning firewood but the thrill gets old very fast. Down trees around here go to the pallet mill for pallets or to the mulch guys who grind up the whole tree even the roots get used. I convert some of it into musical instruments. I planted 300 trees this year it gives me the incentive to live another 150 years so I can make good use of them... Bob.

[I.D.10-t]

Living in a northern city, I really wonder what air quality would be like if even 5% of the people still used wood as a primary fuel source.