RE: The Great Willamette Valley Ice Storm of '16 - 3 - Blue Spruce and Redcedar Trees
Back in October of 2006 we had the "October Surprise" storm in Buffalo NY. It was absolutely crazy. It was pouring rain all day and by nightfall the temperature dropped and the rain began to freeze. It knocked down trees, knocked down power lines, and just caused extreme mayhem throughout the entire city.
At the peak of the storm I decided to go for a walk. It was so weird because it was pitch black in the city from all the power being out. As I walked past the park, it sounded like gun shots as thick branches snapped from the trees giving way to the weight of the ice. I only made it about two blocks from my house before I nervously turned back. In the distance you could see power lines dancing through the darkness as sparks arked each time it hit the wet ground.
It's incredible the amount of damage ice can do in the right conditions.
Wow! I'm glad you went back home! When the power lines are coming down, walking around the neighborhood is not the smart choice. And even a smallish tree branch can kill -- my neighbor's son experienced that recently with his own neighbor being killed. Went out in a windstorm to check out the trees in the yard and got hit with a branch. That was just before this ice storm.
Mayhem is a great word to describe the impact of a big ice storm. My town will still be cleaning up a month from now. When your storm hit in October, I bet it was even worse, because of leaves still on the trees. Some trees live a long time and it's mind-bending, for me, to think about them experiencing ice storms and other hazards, just standing in place.
Sorry about your neighbors son, that's terrible. When I seen the power lines that was when I realized how bad things were and turned around. The leaves were a huge factor and was a big cause of all the problems.
Just to clarify - It was the neighbor of the grownup son of my neighbor. But it was hard for me to say that clearly. Regardless, it is just too bad about the man that died. So pointless and it happened so fast. And it wasn't even a very big branch. Just hit him in the head. So sad. I'm glad you turned around yourself!