Nor'easter Madness
Nor'easter Number One
March 2018 became known as the month of Nor'easters, a highly unusual spate of unseasonal storms that wreaked havoc and delayed our Spring. The first one whipped past on 3 March, bringing about an inch of slushy stuff that was gone the next day.
Nor'easter Number Two
By far the most destructive of the bunch, number two started on 7 March with wet, heavy snow that came down like fury. The birds knew something bad was about to happen—they emptied seven full birdfeeders in one day. By nightfall, about six inches had fallen, and my area lost power around 5 PM.
Then, overnight, the snow became ice, and I spent the night listening to tortured trees losing limbs—crack, groan, thud, repeat. Shortly after midnight, I heard one particularly loud crash that definitely sounded like something large had hit a structure. It wasn't the cabin, and I prayed it wasn't the camper.
The next morning, I saw what had happened: a large branch came down on the house.
Surveying the property, I saw piles of debris everywhere, and many mountain laurels suffered fatal damage. Meanwhile, the power was still out, and didn't return for over 36 hours.
My driveway was also blocked by an anguished-looking tree threatening to drop.
The next day, I began to survey the damage more carefully. What I found was so disheartening that I had to stop—I felt as if someone had sucker-punched me. About a third of my mountain laurels looked like this:
Nor'easter Number Three
Number three just grazed us as it took aim at New England on 13 March, leaving behind about two inches of white stuff.
Nor'easter Number Four
No sooner had the snow from number three melted when number four arrived on 21 March—the first day of spring—and dumped over eight inches of heavy white crap over the course of two days.
My poor mountain laurels will never recover.
On the plus side, over eight inches of heavy, wet snow was a good stress test for the house roof. I checked, and found no evidence of undue strain; in fact, I couldn't even see any deflection beyond what was normal with no load. I guess I done good.
