Blizzard of 2015: Another Bust?

Town Hall 7:45 AM

Thus far the storm of the century has not lived up to the hype, which is of course a good thing. The scanner was so quiet last night I had to double check to make sure it was on. Which is of course a good thing.

Carry on.

Amherst makes The Onion (We're somebody now!)

Update from Governor Baker

 Miss Emily to Mr. Frost: "Don't believe the hype."

But the wind is still whipping

Snowthings

Amherst College professorial snowman

Snowman corner of Mass & Commonwealth Ave, UMass

An hour later these young ladies were building a mate

Playing field off Commonwealth Ave

Boys will be boys

A Storm Approaches

Amherst DPW sand/salt pile 4:00 PM

I can always tell when a storm is approaching as there's a run on the free sand salt pile in front of the DPW building, kind of like that run on milk and bread at the local grocery store.  

Amherst stopped using sand this season but the town continues to provide it to homeowners (at least until the supply runs out).  

And yes, I've been wondering if the high number of accidents on Saturday (23) could have been somewhat lessened if the town still used sand instead of switching to magnesium chloride.

Sign Of The Times

Sand pile Amherst DPW

Even though the town has eliminated sand from its war-on-winter arsenal, the DPW continues a generations old practice of providing a free sand/salt pile (even providing a shovel) at their home base conveniently located a mile south of Amherst town center.

Last winter the DPW used between four and five THOUSAND tons of sand mixed in with 1,000 to 1,500 tons of salt.  

The town will continue to use salt, but will do so mixed in a liquid goo of magnesium chloride which can be applied to the roads even before the first snowflakes fall.  Massachusetts Department Of Transportation switched over to this formula years ago.

The current sand/salt inventory is left over from last year.

The town gave up the equally long-time practice of filling ugly green boxes stationed around town a few years back; and the most recent free delivery of sand/salt to homeowners who place buckets by the side of the road may also be the last time for that service.   

What's next, doctors and milk producers giving up house calls?

Whitewash

Amherst Town Hall 1/17/12

Panicked citizens flooded Amherst Town Hall with calls, emails and texts this morning as folks awakened to discover a mysterious white substance coating the entire town.

Video at 11:00 (if it's still present).

A simple gesture

Five days after the pernicious winter storm wreaked havoc, bringing death and despair throughout our entire region, with many in Amherst still without power, and schools closed for yet another day, Halloween "rescheduled", and even Town Meeting precinct meetings cancelled (bringing withdrawal to small town political junkies) Amherst needs to consider the little things that can make life just a little easier for its citizens still trying to cope.

Trees and branches were by far the number one casualty of this catastrophic event. The town has an entire tree division at the DPW and a recycling/transfer center that deals with wood on a daily basis. And of course the town owns many shade trees damaged or destroyed.

But the Powers That Be have decided only town owned deciduous dead wood will be picked up curbside by town crews over the next two weeks warning " Any tree debris placed on the side of the road from private trees will not be collected." Of course folks can lug the remains to the town transfer station and pay $50 ton.

Since the town dropped the ball by not opening a local emergency shelter to provide basic necessities--warmth being #1--something Belchertown did at a daily cost of $7,000 (without charging residents an entry fee), it would be nice to drop the Scrooge demeanor and work with our citizenry to help return life to normal--before the next storm hits.

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UPDATE: Now I'm told by a reliable source that the actual price for disposal at our tax subsidized transfer station is $100/ton, but somebody made a boo boo when sending out that email blast and posting to the town website advertising the $50/ton price.

But rather than suck up and abide by what somebody put in writing (you know, like what a private sector business would do) town officials are trying to get a webmaster to change the price to the correct amount and charge that to hard pressed taxpayers.

Maybe we all should converge on the town common with a few loads of debris and a few gallons of gas and have a good old fashioned bonfire!

The Day After

Amherst Town Center, Amity Street, Sunday morning

This storm will go down in history for wreaking havoc of an economic and social kind, but amazingly it was not the serial killer it could have been. The town's Wi-Fi is now back up, having been down since late Saturday night.

I hope somebody considers a capital item to purchase a generator for Town Hall to keep it up during a power failure as these days so very many people have mobile devices that could have tapped into the web to communicate with loved ones, or just get an update on the storm and its aftermath.

College Street early Sunday morning

Amherst College lost mostly large branches

Gas Station on College Street

Street light beheaded in Town Center (12 hours later became hazard with power return)

Grove of birch trees bow down to the weight of the storm

New fence around Emily Dickinson Homestead took a few hits

Dickinson Street

Cumberland Farms on College Street: about the only store open with power and mobbed, running out of gas around 3:00 PM

Snow be gone

Walmart Hadley roof snow removal

Blue Flag on a blue/white background. (I hear it's hot in Egypt about now.)

And so it goes...

High noon


Yes, venerable Amherst Town Hall is closed. But the DPW is going great guns (if I dare use that metaphor these days) as is the Police and Fire Departments. Interesting how it's those on the lower end of the payscale who are considered "essential personnel."

Ice Man