Widespread Destruction From Quinn

Winter Storm Quinn brought widespread destruction to southwestern Connecticut. This time is wasn't the winds but the heavy snow that brought down thousands of trees and branches from across the area.

Let's discuss snowfall first. There was quite the snowfall gradient that set up between the coastal and inland towns, something extremely hard to forecast. This is mainly due to the marginal temperatures. As a forecaster, it is very hard to determine whether heavy snow will accumulate with these sub-par temperatures. For most locations, it was cold enough for accumulating snow, but in some coastal communities it was a bit too warm for the 10-14 inches of snow we called for. Below is our final call snowfall forecast released at 4AM on Wednesday:

Now compare that to the variation of snowfall reports from across Fairfield County:

This very wet, heavy snow was the culprit for the widespread power outages. According to Eversource, the top towns without power in our area -- and really the entire state -- as of 3PM are:

Weston
Redding
Monroe
Wilton
New Canaan
Westport

All of these towns contain at least 20% of customers without power. Based on the images we have seen, there is a long road to go. According to First Selectman Kevin Moynihan, he said that he expects that some New Canaan residents won’t have power back until Tuesday. The Fairfield Police also report that it "may be several days before all power is restored." In Westport, one of the hardest hit towns, First Selectman Jim Marpe issued a “code red” message, as the town's power grid sustained significant damage, leaving about 1/3 of the town without power. Thankfully, no more snow is in the forecast through at least Sunday, but winds will remain gusty with occasional gusts of up to 30 mph. Those gusts may take down trees branches or push down leaning trees.

Based on my drive through Wilton Thursday afternoon, the roads are in very rough shape, thus forcing the district to close schools on both Thursday and Friday. Some of these roads are only one-lane due to the heavy snow and/or branches on the sides. Below is a gallery (click on image to view caption) of some of the damage on or along the roads in Wilton:

We also received numerous photos of the beautiful snow and the destructive damage that snow caused, including this wild video of a transformer explosion at Rivergate Drive in Wilton. Credit: Max Von Bartheld

Here's the gallery of photos from people like you:

If you have any photos you would like to share, send them through social media or email us at jacksonsweather@gmail.com.