Text by Russell Russ
Photo by Bruce Frisch

During the final days of 2019, Norfolk experienced one of the most notable weather events of the year. With temperatures above freezing, rain began falling during the afternoon of Dec. 29. The rain continued into the evening, and by then temperatures were hovering around 32 degrees.

Freezing rain continued overnight into the next morning. At 8 a.m. on Dec. 30, a total of 0.96 inch of rainfall was recorded with an ice accretion of 0.15 inch. Temperatures continued to stay at or below freezing during the day, and freezing rain with some sleet mixed kept falling. At 3 p.m., along with the sleet we had a strong thunderstorm producing nickel- to quarter-sized hail. There were numerous lightning strikes, loud crashes of thunder and several minutes of hail the size of large mothballs. Another, weaker thunderstorm brushed Norfolk at 4:45 p.m., with sleet still falling. Soon after the second round came through, the precipitation turned to light snow. By 8 p.m. when the snow stopped, there was a little over an inch of snowfall. More freezing rain fell during the early hours of Dec. 31, adding more ice on top of the heavy weight that was already hanging on trees and power lines, and several power outages were reported in town.

A storm total of 1.59 inches of precipitation, including 1.2 inches of snow and sleet, was measured. The ice buildup on the trees was the big problem, but only in locations above about 1,200 feet in elevation. At lower elevations the temperatures stayed mostly above freezing during the entire storm.

Making the situation worse for the trees was the fact that temperatures for the next few days never got much above freezing. Had there been high winds during the storm, the tree damage and power outages would have been much worse. At many locations the ice did not begin to come off the trees and power lines until the afternoon of Jan. 3. Weather observations and local input indicate that most of the ice damage was centered in the higher elevations of Canaan, Norfolk, Winchester, Colebrook and Hartland. 

Norfolk has experienced more severe ice storms in the past that produced much more damage. What made this late December 2019 storm unusual was the very specific elevations it affected, and of course the thunder, lightning and large hail that occurred while sleet was falling.

One unfortunate casualty from the storm was one very old, very large sugar maple on the Norfolk Village Green. The old maple had been declining in recent years, and the heavy ice buildup from this storm was just more than it could stand. A large portion of the tree fell onto the green, barely missing the World War I monument and the town’s new Christmas tree. The old maple had to be completely removed.