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And I'm not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing.

Those of us in New England, New York, and some mid-Atlantic U.S. states just had a huge snowstorm. For me in central Connecticut, it started Friday afternoon and lasted into the wee early morning hours of Saturday, and knocked out power to about two-thirds of Connecticut residents. In fact, my town is one of the few in a large swath of western, northwestern, and northern Connecticut that didn't get nearly completely blacked out.

The storm, apparently named Alfred based on what I've seen on some news outlets, dropped record snowfall for an October storm. October snowstorms that produce more than a dusting of snow are rare enough already; according to the Hartford Courant newspaper, the only previous recorded October snow events with snow accumulation are once in the 1920s (0.1 inches) and twice in the 1970s (0.4 inches in 1972 and 1.7 inches in 1979).

And now. But this was no slouch--it dumped a full foot of snow on us, obliterating the above records. Add that to the fact that trees haven't shed much of their leaves yet (due probably in part to an unusually wet summer and fall), a lot of wet, heavy snow accumulated on trees and caused tons of limbs and branches (and occasionally whole trees) to collapse. That's what caused most of the power outages. By two-thirds of our state I mean over 800,000 customers. I think utility crews restored power to about 30,000 people by earlier today, but they still have over 700,000 to go.

Today, on the other hand, was a beautiful sunny day with highs in the mid 40s, thankfully, so most of the snow on trees has melted off. But the snow on the ground hasn't fully melted yet...and that means I'll be experiencing my first white Halloween. Christmas is two months early it seems.

Well, it's probably bad for planned festivities. Pumpkin patch and haunted house tourism is probably not enjoying the snow. Nor are the kids who will have to brave sub-freezing temperatures in their costumes when they come trick-or-treating. Maybe I'll end up returning this huge bag of candy after all...

This post has been edited by Glenn Magus Harvey on 31st October 2011 19:53

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Man, that's crazy. I think I only ever had one Halloween with some snow back when I lived in Ottawa, and that's unlikely, as I recall it.

I guess it's just a sign of the times and the state of the environment, then. Some shifting weather patterns, and the like.

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Games on the Go
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy: Four Warriors of Light
Baldur's Gate

Too much to play, so little time!

Greg

It's not suprising, given that so much arctic ice is melting. That means more moisture in the system available for evaporation/precipitation instead of sitting there in temporary or permanent ice. It'll mean earlier snows, more nor'easters, larger blizzards, the works.

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this is a blog mostly about comics and videogames
END SPOILER

Yeah, the wet getting wetter has definitely been playing out here. Last winter we saw record snowfall in Connecticut, and basically we saw weekly blizzards, one of which dropped some two feet of snow on us.

This year, all those trees haven't given up their leaves yet and haven't dropped acorns in part because the summer and early fall here has been quite rainy. Of course, the fact that they still have leaves also meant they trapped more snow on their branches...and yeah. I think we here in New England are looking forward to another record-breaking year worth of snow.

Hopefully those climate change deniers are being convinced by Mother Nature herself that something ain't right.

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

Wasn't just Connecticut and New York, for sure. My friends in Boston and New Hampshire reported a lot of power outages (some still ongoing) and a foot or more of snow in parts.

With regards to the climate change deniers, their inability to see forests for trees will simply lead them to say "what do you mean global warming? It snowed in October this year!"

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"To create something great, you need the means to make a lot of really bad crap." - Kevin Kelly

Why aren't you shopping AmaCoN?

Oh yeah, you're right. I remember someone telling me about stuff in Baltimore. I'll go edit my opening post.

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Check the "What games are you playing at the moment?" thread for updates on what I've been playing.

You can find me on the Fediverse! I use Mastodon, where I am @[email protected] ( https://sakurajima.moe/@glennmagusharvey )

In northern New Jersey it was pretty bad. The leaves hadn't fallen, so the snow weighed down the branches on trees far more than usual and they fell down all over the place. I spent an hour yesterday clearing the branches from my front yard. Fortunately we didn't lose power for very long, but we did lose internet and cable, and a lot of people around here had no power (meaning no heat) in sub-freezing temperatures. Personally I like the cold, but this was a little much, a little early.

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Squenix games completed:

FFIII
FFIV
FFVI
FFVII
FFIX
FFX
FF Tactics: Advance 2
Chrono Trigger
Dragon Quest 8
Dragon Quest 11
Super Mario RPG