Nor'easter brings snow & tree damage

Nor'easters are storms that track NE in the northeastern US, basically up the coast from New Jersey to Maine, and they can dump a lot of rain or snow depending on the season. This storm ran into some cold imported Canadian air and as a result some places got 10-15 inches (25-38 cm) of snow, and this early in the season means it was a heavy wet snow. That's all you need to know to predict what happened. A lot of trees, many still bearing their leaves, will break under the weight, which in turn brings down power lines and probably 500,000 residences will be without electricity. A few years ago, an early heavy snowstorm struck our area, and those trees that had stubbornly hung onto their leaves were toast. It basically was the end for Bradford pears in this area; a walking survey of the neighborhood found 9 out of every 10 broken into smithereens. The Phactor lost a very large old redbud split to the base and another 6 were badly damaged. Never much cared for Bradford pears, and we still had 12 or so redbuds undamaged, so no tragedies. At our residence in an urban heat island there has yet to be a frost so the fall colors and leaves are still hanging on. Such a snow here, now, would be a disaster too. Videos of cars sliding around will be standard fare as dopes behind the wheel make their annual discovery that snow is slippery and requires caution. Any live reports from the field?