Do You Remember The Year Maine Almost Didn’t Have Halloween?
Even though we have had to deal with rain during many of the recent Halloween nights (and Halloween events) in the last few years, we have not really had to deal with crazy weather.
But, we cannot forget that, just a few years ago, a significant weather event nearly cancelled everyone's Halloween fun.
In late October of 2017, much of the Northeast was threatened by the so-called "bomb cyclone".
The storm, which was much like a fall Nor'Easter, brought high winds and nasty rain to Maine and the other New England states.
According to Wikipedia, the extratropical cyclone formed over Florida on October 29th, 2017, and quickly began to work its way up the east coast. Places like New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania were slammed with rain (as much as fives inches in a very short amount of time) and gusty winds. Massachusetts got pounded with rain and, on the coast, they had to deal with really high winds. In fact, a 93 MPH wind was recorded at Popponesset Beach.
Here in Maine, the winds were the biggest problem. The Wikipedia article explains that about 400,000 power outages were reported. For some people, those outages lasted for more than a week. As far as power issues go, the "bomb cyclone" was worse than the Ice Storm of 1998. Crazy, eh?
Because of the widespread power outages and the concern over trees downed by the wind, some municipalities canceled (or attempted to cancel) Halloween activities. During the day on Halloween, there were still legitimate safety concerns over falling trees.
In total, the storm caused about $100 million in damages (nationwide). Fortunately, though, no one was killed by the storm.
Fortunately, this year we are going to have almost perfect weather for the holiday.
Do you remember the "bomb cyclone"? Did you lose power or have damage to your home because of it? Let us know your story by messaging us through our app.