October 4, 1987

An unprecedented early season snow storm occurred on October 4th, 1987. Three inches up to about 2 feet of extremely wet snow fell across eastern New York and western New England resulting in many deaths and injuries and an enormous amount property damage. There were widespread power outages. The trees still had their leaves which was a major contributing factor to the number of trees and limbs that came down taking out power lines. Snow to liquid ratios were as low as 3.5 to 1 (Kenneth D. LaPenta, 1988). The hardest hit counties were Dutchess, Ulster and Columbia counties where the power was out in some areas for nearly two weeks (Storm Data, NCDC). Albany, Columbia, Rensselaer, Dutchess, Greene and Montgomery counties were declared disaster areas (Storm Data, NCDC).