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First snow flurries in the Saranac Lake area as seen by Jim Clark or reported in the local media:

1988	October 6
1989	October 3
1990	October 19
1991	September 29
1992	September 30
1993	September 30
1994	September 30
1995	October 16
1996	October 3
1997	October 1
1998	October 1
1999	October 4
2000	October 8
2001	October 7
2002	October 17
2003	October 1
2004	October 18
2005	October 21
2006	October 12
2007	October 13
2008	October 3
2009	September 30
2010	October 15
2011	October 17
2012	October 7
2013	October 23 This is the latest in the last 26 years
2014	October 19
Other dates as found in old articles:
1921	October 4
1951	October 31
1954	October 6
1955	October 20
1960	October 21
1961	October 4
1963	October 4
1969	October 2
1971	August 25
1973	October 16
1985	December 2

 

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Adirondack Daily Enterprise, November 27, 1950

BUSINESS IS NEARING NORMAL
AS 2-NIGHT 'BLACKOUT' ENDS
AND STORM SPENDS ITS FURY

Timber Destroyed By Worst Recorded Mountain Storm

By FREDERICK H. KUBY, Editor and Publisher

After a lashing by the elements, causing a blackout and communication disruption that lasted almost 30 hours, Saranac Lake, Lake Placid and surrounding areas were still sub-normal basis today. But full recovery was only a matter of hours.

First electric power was restored at 1:30 a. m. today. That circuit was the one on the east side of Main street. Not in service was the west side. That occurred at 1:40 a.m. Shortly after, the street lights broke through the darkness.

At 2 a. m., Saranac Lake looked like a newly lighted Christmas Tree. Most business establishments forgot to turn off the switches after the power went off Saturday. At the wee hours many stores looked like they were open for business.

Moody Pond, Trudeau, Lake Colby, Lake Street, State Road, Forest Hill avenue, Park avenue, Saranac Inn and Lake Clear sections were, still without electric light and power. In downtown Saranac Lake upper Broadway from Olive street to Ampersand also was out. Before nightfall all telephone and electric service is expected to be in operation. [illegible section]

Loss May Be Milllon Dollars

Most conservative estimates rate it as millions of dollars, if the destruction of trees and timber is included.

Millions of the forest giants were felled, tens of thousands across the paths of traffic.

As the storm spent its fury it wrecked every possible source of electric power supply in the tri-lake area, except the 22,000- volt lines running from Piercefield to Tupper Lake. In the vicinity of Saranac Inn, part of Route 3 looks as though an atomic bomb or some other irresistable force had wrecked its vengeance upon an innocent adversary.

Freaks and counter freaks characterized the most destructive recorded storm the Adirondacks have ever witnessed. Heatless homes, burdened by darkness and lack of telephone service, in many instances, were isolated from transportation by blocked roads and driveways. Worst hit section of Saranac Lake was Park avenue, where scores of trees were torn out by the roots and tumbled askew like fallen warriors.

Majestic sentinels of the forest whose rugged columns had weathered the storms of a century or more were toppled like matchwood as the surrounding forest-clad mountains became a jumbled mass of trees and coniferous evergreens.

Citizens Calm

In Saranac Lake and Lake Placid the citizenry was calm and collected. They realized the futility of resistance to the elements.

As the storm swept through the electric and telephone rights-of-way many of the freaks occurred. Seventeen trees were toppled across the cable-of the New York Telephone company between Saranac Lake and Tupper. Not a break occurred in the cable!

One man in the Moody Pond area couldn't unlock his front door. He drove his car to the rear and opened his kitchen door to procure some food for his family, who were storm bound at neighbor's home. When he came out to drive the car out the entrance his pathway was blocked by a giant tree that fell a few seconds after he had passed in.

At the Fletcher Finnegan farm on the Harrietstown Road, the wind lifted the entire roof off the main barn and deposited on the highway, oak timber, shingles, and sheeting in a splintered mass.

One of the worst victims of the wind was the Morris estate, Camp Intermission on Lake Colby. Hundreds of trees were swept over as if by the hands of an unseen Paul Bunyan. Many were thrown across the driveway and at least one of large proportion into the eaves of the residence which is occupied year around by Mrs. William Morris, her daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. William C. White and their son, William, Jr.

Heat But No Light

At Trudeau the reservation has heat but no light. It maintains its own heating plant and buys electricity wholesale from Paul Smiths.

During the storm attendants and nurses went through a virtual nightmare and the storm smashed windows on the sleeping porches and the [illegible section]

Yesterday gasoline, food, candles canned heat and fuel fired stoves became the quest of many. Hardware stores, including George L. Starks and Saranac Lake Hardware rendered valiant service to inquiring customers, doling out emergency equipment.

Candles became a rationable item as hundreds flocked to secure some sort of light as they faced the gloom of the second dark night.

Restaurants Busy

Most of the restaurants remained open, doing a land office business as whole families descended upon them for as many as four meals since Saturday night. Most fortunate of the eateries was the Minute Lunch which does all its cooking with gas and had the foresight or good fortune to keep its old side gas lights in service. Everything was merry with their equipment, except the electric toaster. But they were not outdone by that. The griddle was called into service and toast was turned out by the armload…

Milk delivery became a problem Sunday. Plenty of raw milk was on hand but all pasteurizing equipment was out of service because of the power blackout.

Dairy-Dell's president Jeff Newbold carried 3,000 quarts of milk to Tupper Lake for pasteurizing. That only supplied half the demand, so all the customers were given half their usual quota until a second 3,000 quarts could be pasteurized and a second delivery made. Other dairies adhered strictly to the health requirements and did the same thing.

Today Dairy Dell's pasteurizing equipment was back in service and its facilities were offered by Newbold to any other milk distributor without charge. At least one accepted the offer.

623 Phones Affected

The New York Telephone Co., resident manager Erwin Heck announced that 623 telephones were put out of service in Saranac Lake, Lake Placid and Tupper Lake. At a late hour today 250 had been restored.

The telephone company reported most lines will be cleared and telephones in service by tonight and all by tomorrow.

 

Hot Storm Pix Rushed 220 Mi. To Enterprise

Today's Adirondack Daily Enterprise marks a new epoch in speedy news and picture presentation of a major story in this area.

During yesterday Harry Straw, news editor, accompanied by a photographer and Frederick H. Kury, publisher, covered scores of miles on mountain roads and highway, securing pictures and facts on the damage and blackout in this area. Because of the lack of electricity it was impossible to print the pictures.

Two hours after dark last night Straw and his wife bundled their 4-month-old baby in their car and sped 110 miles to Ogdensburg. They couldn't find a baby sitter and knew the infant would be warmer in the heated car than in their cold apartment.

Ogdensburg is the closest point to Saranac Lake where the pictures could be printed and engraved. The Ogdensburg Journal, another Gannett paper, extended Its full facilities and kept its engraving plant open throughout the night. At Ogdensburg Mrs. Kury, wife of the Enterprise publisher, met the Straws and took them to the Kury's summer home on the St. Lawrence, where Mr. Kury had hoped to spend the weekend but for the storm.

After a rest and warm food the Straws sped back over the mountains and through a long stretch of snow so that today the readers of the Daily Enterprise have the first full page and more, of the first and exclusive pictures of a local story ever presented by this newspaper.

This is just a segment of the drama of journalism. It is why newspapermen are newspapermen and the females, newspaperwomen.

Frederick H. Kury

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Adirondack Daily Enterprise, November 2, 1988

Heavy snow buries the Tri-Lakes area Schools closed, power out, highways blocked

By Enterprise staff

Residents of the Tri-Lakes and the entire central Adirondack region awoke this morning to a heavy blanket of wet November snow — closing schools, knocking out power to parts of all three villages, and delaying commuters who had to drive around fallen trees stretched across area highways.

All three school districts were closed this morning, even in Tupper Lake, where officials have always strived to hold classes despite bad weather.

The weighty snow left utility lines everywhere hanging low and dropped large branches and entire trees across power cables and roads. State and local work crews were out not only to plow the snow away but to cut apart the many large trees that blocked the highways.

Route 3 between Tupper Lake and Saranac Lake was especially hard-hit. One motorist counted as many as 100 trees blocking parts of the road. In one spot cars had to negotiate an early-winter obstacle course, winding their way through a narrow path around three fallen trees. A few miles down the road, another tree came down just in front of the state snowplow, whose operators rushed out to move it while a long line of commuters waited behind.

"It's a mess," said Town of Harrietstown Highway Superintendent Craig Donaldson, who is in charge of clearing town roads. "If we can get the trees and everything else out of the way, it will be all right," he said.

It appears that the storm was confined to the central Adirondacks. Plattsburgh and Watertown reported light snow overnight, while a mix of rain and snow was falling in the Lake George region.

Reports of snowfall in the Tri- Lakes ranged from eight to 12 inches.

Area police departments reported no major accidents overnight, although they were responding to the scene of several collisions this morning.

A tractor-trailer reportedly jackknifed on Route 3 around 9:45 a.m., spilling diesel fuel all over. The Saranac Lake Rescue Squad was dispatched at midmorning to take a worker to the hospital. Details were still sketchy at press time, but the worker was apparently injured while cutting trees on Route 3 near the state bridge.

Niagara Mohawk Power Company crews went to work at 1:30 a.m. to clear the lines and get power turned back on in the area, said regional director Robert Maclntire.

While all of Tupper Lake was in the dark even as the sun rose, electricity went back on slowly in different sections of Saranac Lake and Lake Placid, Maclntire said. He said most customers in those two villages were back on line by 8:30 a.m. Power was slated to go back on in Tupper sometime this afternoon, according to the village office.

The storm dumped nine inches of snow on the Ray Brook area by 10 a.m., according to local weather-watcher Bob Kampf.

The storm is at the northern end of a "nor'easter" caused by a low pressure system moving up the Atlantic Coast, according to an official at the Federal Aviation Administration Flight Service Station in Buffalo. While nor'easters generally bring rain, this region got snow as a cold front came in from the west, said the FAA's Bob Moffat.

Additional snow or rain was predicted to fall until midnight tonight, the weatherman added. Much to the delight of students, schools throughout the area were closed because of the storm. Superintendents were up as early as 4 a.m. to check on the weather and road conditions.

"We decided (to close) at 4 a.m.," said Saranac Lake Superintendent Tom Christopher. The closing process, , he explained, takes about an hour. "Very early, our transportation superintendent is in touch with highway superintendents and police," Christopher said. Once the decision is made, school principals and radio stations are notified…