Seven-Years Ago (14-March-2010) — New Jersey

Backyard Late-Winter Nature in New Jersey. Nor’easter Aftermath.

Unlike the nor’easter today with lots of snow. Seven-years ago the ground was saturated with water, and I lost several trees due to wind. This was before Hurricane Irene or Sandy. The power was out for several days and I ended up living in my RV (that had a propane generator). I was fortunate that none of the trees that went down hit the house.

Storm Aftermath (David J Mathre)
Storm Aftermath (David J Mathre)

Thursday (08-November-2012) — New Jersey

Autumn Weather in New Jersey: Nor’easter Athena.

An early winter. Not as much wind from Nor’easter Athena, but we did get 8-12 inches of snow last night. I didn’t know that nor’easters get names like hurricanes — social media or weather and news channels looking for ratings? Power was off for about 12 hours, so it was cold in the house this morning. Still not sure if the power was off due to ongoing power grid repairs, or new damage due to this storm.

PSE&G just sent an e-mail out that stated 70K users were still out due to hurricane Sandy, and another 90K users were out due to the nor’easter last night. The other comment was “Despite the snowstorm, the 4,000 out-of-state workers and 700 PSE&G linemen restored service to more than 120,000 customers affected by Hurricane Sandy in the past 24 hours. Many of our crews from the south have never worked in snow before, but have proven more than capable of handling this new challenge.”

Dawn after Nor'easter Athena, One+ Week Post Hurricane Sandy. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (David J Mathre)
Dawn after Nor’easter Athena, One+ Week Post Hurricane Sandy. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (David J Mathre)
Snow Post Hurricane Sandy. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (David J Mathre)
Snowy Dawn. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (David J Mathre)
Snow Post Hurricane Sandy. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (David J Mathre)
Birch Tree Bent Over by Snow. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (David J Mathre)
Snow Post Hurricane Sandy. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (David J Mathre)
Dawn after Nor’easter Athena, One+ Week Post Hurricane Sandy. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (David J Mathre)
Snow Post Hurricane Sandy. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (David J Mathre)
Deer Tracks in the Snow. Image taken with a Leica V-Lux 30 camera (David J Mathre)

Wednesday (02-November-2011) — New Jersey

Late October Nor’easter Aftermath: Day 4

Update from PSE&G >95% of Power Restored. Restoration Challenges:

  • This storm caused more individual incidents of damage to PSE&G’s electric infrastructure than Hurricane Irene.
  • This storm was particularly damaging because, with leaves still on the
    trees, the heavy snow created considerable weight on tree limbs, bringing down
    numerous trees and power lines.
  • In addition to major circuits, there were a larger number of individual
    service lines from our poles to customers’ homes and business that were
    damaged.

Tuesday (01-November-2011) — New Jersey

Late October Nor’easter Aftermath: Day 3

Other than a few power dips (brown outs), the power remained on for the last day. My APC UPS units continue to protect the computers and servers. The following is an update from PSE&G.

  • 88% of the more than 570,000 PSE&G customers impacted by power outages from
    Saturday’s wet, heavy snow that brought down numerous trees and power lines.
    Crews will continue to work around the clock until all customers have power.
  • PSE&G expects to meet the state’s goal of having at least 95 percent
    of customers restored by Thursday. At this time, about 67,000 customers are
    without power with the majority of these in Bergen, Essex and Passaic
    counties
  • This storm caused more individual incidents of damage to
    PSE&G’s electric infrastructure than did Hurricane Irene. There is a larger
    number of service lines that are damaged as a result of falling tree limbs.
    Repairing the significant number of single lines from the poles to customers’
    homes and businesses presents the greatest challenge with this
    storm.
  • PSE&G is using every available resource to make repairs and
    restore electricity as quickly and safely as possible.  Resources include 262
    crews and troubleshooters, 116 line contractor crews and 240 tree crews working
    to restore power.  In addition to its own crews, PSE&G is receiving
    assistance from mutual aid crews from Alabama, Florida, Georgia and
    Mississippi.
  • Electric crews work to restore power to the largest numbers
    of customers first, taking into account “priority” customers, such as hospitals,
    police stations, fire stations, water and sewer facilities, schools, and
    communications facilities (TV, radio, and telephone).  At the same time, the
    utility restores power to homes and businesses, starting with the circuits
    serving the largest number of customers.

Sunday (14-March-2010) — New Jersey

Backyard Winter Nature in New Jersey. The Great Nor’easter Storm of March 2010.

The ground was saturated, and the strong winds from the Nor’easter took out a lot of trees. I was lucky that this one didn’t fall on my house. Lots of local destruction. I ended up living in my RY for 5 days until power could be restored to the house.

Storm Aftermath (David J Mathre)
Storm Aftermath. One of many trees down in my backyard. This one is near the house. Image taken with a Nikon D3s camera and 14-24 mm f/2.8 lens (ISO 500, 16 mm, f/2.8, 1/60 sec).  (David J Mathre)