Blizzard Hit Southwestern Connecticut Eight Years Ago Today

Eight years ago today we were hit with second major snowstorm to strike southwestern Connecticut in just over two weeks. Heavy snow began just before midnight, Tuesday, January 11, 2011, and continued through much of the early morning, Wednesday, January 12, delivering between a foot-and-a-half and two feet of snow to southwestern Connecticut.

Snowplows were already on the roads as early as one o'clock eight years ago this morning to keep up with the heavy snow, which was falling at the rate of one-to-two inches per hour between two and six o'clock in the morning. It certainly was one of the most difficult commutes to work I've ever experienced.

For the second time in as many weeks, I asked my neighbor to drive me to work. He has a snowplow, and I feel much more relaxed when he is in the driver's seat. I didn't have to worry about shoveling my driveway and cleaning the snow off my car during the height of the storm in the middle of the night. Although the drive was somewhat harrowing, we kept a steady pace at about 25 to 30 miles an hour along Interstate 95 from Fairfield to Milford.



The photo above is from Patty, Erik, and Emily in Fairfield. As predicted, the storm was a 12-hour event, and the heaviest snow began to exit the region from West-to-East between 8 and 9 o'clock. Snow totals as of mid-morning were quite impressive. Here is a rundown of snow totals from many communities across southwestern Connecticut:

• Weston: 24.5"
• Redding: 24.1"
• Wilton: 18.7"
• New Canaan: 18.0"
• Darien: 17.5"
• Milford: 18.0"
• Westport: 17.4"
• Bridgeport: 16.0"
• Greenwich: 15.5"

Unofficially, up to 30 inches of snow were recorded for the season at Sikorsky Memorial Airport in Stratford, well above normal for this time of the year. That Winter was just as memorable as the Winter of 1995-96 when 78 inches of snow fell in southwestern Connecticut. More than 100 inches fell in Danbury and Hartford, and it remains the snowiest Winter on record. In fact, a significant snowstorm happened during the first week of January in 1996, much like the January 2011 event.

Paul