The trees still had leaves on them, and the snow was a wet and heavy snow. Many branches came down and took out power lines with them.
We had one worse than that in October 2006. Snow & ice. It was so severe, that it didn't just tear off big branches, but also toppled over trees... some of them over 100 years old. It was estimated we lost almost half the trees in Western NY State. They were still chopping up & hauling away bits of trees the following July. Almost everybody lost power for weeks in 20-30 degree weather. I was lucky that I was living behind a TV station at the time, so their power got priority. I had electricity & Betty's stayed online through it all.
Interestingly, I'm one of those disaster preparedness people. So I'm more prepared for power & energy failures than most. I hadn't had a power failure since 1993. But I used to get power failures 4-5 times a year before that, so I learned to be prepared for it.
Looking at most of the trees that survived, even the ones in my back yard, one can see where large chunks of the had broken off & are missing. Many of the trees in the city are small replacement trees.
I remember being in Niagara Falls, N.Y. for Easter with my cousin in 1969 and the Falls were mostly still frozen over
Sometimes Easter is in March. 2/3 of March is still winter anyway. I remember many St. Pats days with snow & temperatures in the 20s F, but there were a few 40s F ones too.
They haven't used that pool in a couple years. I don't know what's up with that. When it was in use, I only saw 1 older guy ever use it on a few of the hot days. Maybe their kids all grew up so don't bother with it anymore, or due to the economy, they can't afford a new liner & other maintenance on it (filter, chlorine, etc.).
I may complain about the cold & some snow, but for the first time in over a week, my breathing was good since late yesterday morning with the change in weather. Got a lot of housework & stuff done that I had fell way behind with over the past week. Confident, I decided to run out to a couple stores last night for some stuff I really needed. Ugh. I guess my breathing wasn't that good, but it needed to get done. Got a little out of breath just getting ready & bundling up for the cold outside but not too bad. Every block or so with my COPD, I had to sit on some stranger's steps to catch my breath. But I continued on & did the same to get home.
My nose was running, I was gasping for air, & coughing up goo by the time i got home. I was fine about an hour after I got home with my well filtered climate controlled air. I find I breath better when it's a bit cooler than most people like. Even as a child, I'd have difficulty breathing in high heat & humidity, but could work & play all day in the snow. Even before COPD, on the hottest humid days I'd get headaches, dizziness, & nausia... as sure sign of heat stroke.
On Sunday it got up to the 70s. But my breathing got so bad I couldn't go outside. In the evening when it got a hazy 96% humidity, with the effort of just walking across the room or going to the bathroom caused me the seriously start gasping for air. The only thing I could do was sit & lay around all day. Couldn't even breathe good enough to shower or bathe, or cook much.
The kitties loved it because I stayed in one place a lot so they could get lots of cuddling, playtime, & attention. They hate it when I'm busy & ignoring them.