Snowstorm hits region

You are currently viewing Snowstorm hits region
Village worker Nate Baker uses the sidewalk plow on Main Street as the flags on the lawn of TD Bank blow in wind Monday morning. The only major snowstorm of 2010 wound down Dec. 27 after dropping an extimated 12 inches of snow in Granville. Dec. 27, 2010.

Dropping an estimated 8-12 inches of snow locally and whipping the flakes around with gusting winds as high as 30 mph, the blizzard of 2010 caused whiteout conditions for those commuting to work Monday morning before the storm wound down around midday.

Initially forecasted to miss the area entirely, the first Nor’easter of the 2010-2011 winter skewed steadily westward as Granville residents unwrapped presents and made phone calls to family members across the country.

By the time the Christmas holiday weekend came to close officials posted weather warnings and travel advisories encouraging people to stay at home.

Locally, with school children off for the week on Christmas vacation, the only event affected by the storm was the opening day of the Whitehall Holiday Tournament where the Granville Golden Horde girls team was scheduled to start play Dec. 27; the tournament was moved to the following day due to the storm.

Granville village police reported no weather-related incidents or accidents.

“It’s been very quiet for us,” Sgt. David Williams said Monday afternoon.

The New York State Police encouraged residents to stay at home if they could avoid traveling, reminding those who had to travel to use extreme caution and allow additional time for reaching any destination.

Village superintendent of public works Dan Williams said Monday just after 2 p.m. his crew was hoping to change over to clean-up mode soon and begin taking care of piled snow in the downtown area.

“Things are going very good now,” Williams said.

After a typical 5 a.m. start the crews were working to clear up the drifted snow and were expected to begin the removal process before finishing up and heading home. “It’s always best to get heart of the village cleaned up so people can get in and out of the shops,” he said. 

Despite reports the storm had stopped, Williams said from where he was sitting, in a plow truck, the sky remained full of snowflakes.

The only hitch in an otherwise uneventful day came when a hydraulic hose broke on the village sidewalk plow. That repair should be finished and the plow back out on the job soon, Williams said. The sidewalk plow is meant to clear up the bulk of the snow for residents and leave them with a substantially smaller task during storm clean-ups, but it is something they’re required to do, he said.

“Residents are required to get their sidewalks cleaned up but we’ll take care of the worst of it for them,” he said. 

Williams said the plow could complete the circuit on the 18-20 miles of sidewalk in the village in about eight hours.

Despite warnings or possibly due to them, few accidents were reported in the area although road conditions were reported as marginal.

The state police public information website listed a half dozen property damage accidents taking place Monday morning and three other accidents Sunday, none with injuries.

According to the National Weather Service, a winter weather advisory for blowing snow through the morning of Dec. 28 was issued Monday morning calling for strong and persistent winds with wind chills down to minus 10 degrees.