I've been working the early-morning shift at News 12 Connecticut since June of 1995, and in those 17-plus years, there have been only a handful of truly memorable storms. However, this was the first time I wasn't able to drive to work on my own. One of my neighbors agreed to drive me to the studio in his snowplow during the height of the blizzard early Monday morning. I'm glad he did. To be sure, my Chevy Cavalier wouldn't have made the journey from Fairfield to Norwalk.
Officially, 12 inches of snow fell at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford from Sunday morning through early Monday morning. The eight inches of snow which fell December 26 marked the third snowiest December day on record in southwestern Connecticut. Only December 19, 1948 (16 inches), and December 30, 2000 (10 inches), brought more snow in one day. Here are some impressive snow totals from the 2010 post-Christmas storm:
- Wilton: 18"
- New Canaan: 17.5"
- Greenwich: 17"
- Stratford: 16"
- Norwalk: 16"
- Westport: 14.8"
- Darien: 14.5"
- Milford: 14"
- Bridgeport: 12"
The biting wind was brutal if you were outside for any length of time. Sustained winds of 25 to 35 miles an hour were recorded late Sunday night and Monday, December 27, and wind gusts reached 60 miles at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford (9:21 p.m.) and Greenwich (10:00 p.m.) late Sunday evening. I was surprised that there weren't more widespread power outages.
Another storm is bearing down on southwestern Connecticut later this evening and tonight. The precipitation will start as snow late this afternoon, but gradually change to rain from South to North as an East wind begins to gust between 50 and 60 miles an hour. A Coastal Flood Warning will be in effect from 8 o'clock this evening through midnight, while a High Wind Warning will be in effect for the shoreline from 4 p.m. through 6 a.m. Be prepared for power outages and localized flooding of low-lying areas. One-to-two inches of rain may fall by tomorrow morning.
Paul
