Serene snow falls all night long. It is not long until there is a call declaring school is canceled and work is to be done from home. When morning comes, this ephemeral serenity is quickly broken by reality. The nights are quiet and calm, but the days roar with steady wind gusts chilling the air. Snow plows and snow blowers work tirelessly to clear the roads, with their offending onslaught upon the ears of South Windsor residents, and the continuous shoveling demanded by the historic snowfall is nearly back-breaking.
This was the scene on January 25th, when the New England region was dealt a wintry blow with sixteen inches of snowfall. As the snow melts and clears, the question of the storm’s impact on residents and the town itself emerges.
Numerous South Windsor High School students felt the storm’s footprint on their daily lives. Some enjoyed the time off, including senior Natalie Chin, though it did not come without some rigor.
“I thought it was nice because we got a few days off, so I appreciated it. I just had to do a lot of shoveling because there was a lot of snow,” Chin said.
Others gladly took advantage of the time off the snowstorm provided, like junior Mahesh Chinthapalli.
“It helped me recover from school for two days, and I finished all my work. I actually did great on every test that week because I got to study,” Chinthapalli told The Prowl.
When all was said and done, some took note of the fact that the snowstorm was not as bad as anticipated, looking at the bright side in a very dreary storm.
“It seemed like it was on the lower end of projections,” history teacher Mark D’Amato said. “I saw between 10 and 20 inches of snow and at least where I live, I only measured about 13 or 14, so I was happy that it wasn’t at its maximum amount because obviously that would have meant more to clean off.”
South Windsor residents were heavily affected by the storm, though they are not the only vantage point to be considered in the event’s aftermath. Economically, the storm had a heavy impact as well.
The costs of this snow storm were monumental, although one cannot measure the cost of company productivity, time, and labor lost. One can, however, measure the amount of money that residents and local businesses in South Windsor spent on snow removal and damage.
“The town incurred approximately $55,000 in overtime costs related to this storm,” Marco Mucciacciaro, the Superintendent of Street Services for South Windsor said. “Crews also applied approximately 2,500 gallons of salt brine and 608,140 pounds of treated salt, at an additional cost of roughly $29,000.”
While the town typically budgets for an average of 41 inches of snow per year, this recent storm, which dumped 16 inches in one fell swoop, has placed a massive strain on local resources. To put the cost into perspective, the town spends approximately $230,000 for each plow truck and $95 per ton of salt. With an average season requiring 2,500 tons of salt, the sheer volume of this one event represents a significant and immediate blow to the annual snow removal budget.
However, there were other indirect costs associated with the storm, as Mucciacciaro explained.
“There are many other costs associated with this event, including fuel expenses, replacement of worn plow blades, repairs resulting from equipment breakdowns, and other incidental operational costs,” Mucciacciaro said.
The sheer amount of indirect costs makes it difficult to track, and there are also a large number of tasks that need to be completed such as digging out the fire hydrants. Messages appear on electronic screens in front of the community center reminding residents of this critical duty. However, when people don’t clear their own fire hydrants, the town has to come out and clear them, forcing more resources to be used.
Another indirect cost is the cost of power to people with solar panels, like South Windsor resident Clifford Scott.
“Leading up to the snow storm, my average daily output averaged 13 kilowatt-hours since the storm and with the very cold temperatures, the panels remain buried under snow,” Scott shared.
For reference, the average house uses 30 kilowatt-hours, approximately half of what Scott produces each day on average. Losing 13 kilowatt-hours or more results in residents losing out on potential energy savings, especially for those with stronger solar panels.
Although snow covering solar panels is normal and is to be expected during winter seasons, the fact that it has been irregularly cold for so long has meant that the snow has not been able to melt, forcing home owners to either wait until it warms up or attempt to clear the snow from their own roofs to continue power production.
The impact of the historic snowstorm felt by South Windsor, whether it be through a residential or economic standpoint, was extremely intense. As the town, and the rest of the country, inches closer to spring, it leaves not with the memory of a bleak winter storm, but with crucial learning experience and understanding that will be especially useful for the winters of the future.
