As Hurricane Sandy flooded the East Coast with boatloads of rain and an incredible storm surge, it picked a half dozen counties in eastern West Virginia onto which it dumped a bit of snow. Much of this came on Monday and Tuesday (10/29-10/30), with lesser amounts later that week. All told, in much of Tucker County, snowfall amounts were estimated between 3-4 feet. The snowfall was extremely fast and the snow was wet and heavy.
We had previously left the farm on Sunday, October 28th after a week of very warm weather, several days of which were well over 70 °F. The ground was warm and many of the leaves on the trees had yet to fall. As temperatures fell below freezing with the oncoming snowstorm, the snow stuck to trees, wires, and buildings. Most of the counties around Tucker County lost electrical power late on Monday and phone service (land and cellular) with it. Outages were nearly total in many localities. Tucker County lost about 95% of its electrical service, as did neighboring Randolph and Preston counties. Many buildings collapsed from the weight of the snow. Temperatures ranged between 25-35 °F.
