Ice storm affects the New England area.(OUTSTANDING STORMS OF THE MONTH)(Report)

Ten days before the official start of the winter season on the night of December 11th, New England experienced its largest ice storm since 1998. A cold frontal boundary dropped south of New England on the evening of the 10th. Low pressure developed along the frontal boundary and tracked rapidly to the northeast, spreading a significant amount of precipitation into New England. A deep layer of warm air aloft and sub-freezing air at the surface resulted in a major ice storm across interior Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire as well as much of northern New England.

While this ice storm affected residents from Pennsylvania to Maine, knocking power out to more than one million people, one of the hardest hit areas was central New England. Half an inch to an inch of ice with locally higher amounts accreted on most exposed surfaces. The ice load downed numerous trees, branches, and power lines which resulted in widespread power outages. Residents in Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire reported that it sounded as though firecrackers were going off throughout the storm as trees snapped. More than 300,000 customers were reportedly without power in Massachusetts and an additional 300,000 were without power in the state of New Hampshire. Because of the breadth of this storm, extra crews to reinstate power were hard to come by. Power crews from states as far away as South Carolina, as well as local National Guard teams, were called out to help with power restoration and clean up.

One of the biggest impacts of the storm was the widespread loss of power. While most people had their ...