GOOD MORNING, UPPER VALLEY!
More snow. New snow bands are headed for the region, with the flakes coming down fast at times today. Forecast amounts look to be in the 5-to-12 inch range between now and tomorrow morning, with up to 18 at higher elevations. Temps today will be right around or slightly above the freezing mark, and wind gusts will continue, passing 40 mph at times this morning. Winds today from the northeast, then the northwest tonight. Low around 30 or 31.
Here's the expected snowfall for the rest of the storm in VT. The weather service office in Gray, ME hasn't updated their map since yesterday, but here's where their projected storm totals stood.
There are power outages in both VT and NH, though most are to the west and east of the Upper Valley. VTOutages.org reports about 135 customers out in Hartland, 148 in Stockbridge, and several dozen in Barnard and Royalton. NHEC reports a few hundred out in Warren and Dorchester. Here are WMUR's links to the NH utilities.
New England 511 is showing hazardous driving conditions for large swaths of VT and NH, including the Upper Valley. Here's their highway-cam page, where you can filter at the top for state and roadway.
Pre-snow. End-of-winter scenery has its own kind of bedraggled beauty, and just as a reminder—because with temps in the 50s next week we're headed there again—here are two photos from last week:
Layers of fog over Post Pond in Lyme, from Eileen McGuckin;
And dusk over Lebanon, from Mort Wise.
Quechee Gorge Bridge about to become a bottleneck. As you may know, the bridge is getting a $20.8 million makeover, and starting next week—and running into November—the eastbound lane will be closed. Traffic signals will control the flow, one direction at a time, of the roughly 9,000 vehicles that cross the bridge each day. For the next three years of April-November construction seasons. VTrans had hoped to find a way to keep two lanes open, the agency's JB McCarthy tells NBC5's John Hawks, but "it's just not wide enough to do that." Much of the work will be on the structural steel arch, but the project includes new sidewalks and a bunch else. Here's VTrans' page about it all.In delayed votes, Hartland, Mt. Ascutney, and Weathersfield school district voters approve budgets. Though that Hartland vote Tuesday on an $11.1 million budget was close: 320-311, the Valley News reports. Meanwhile, Windsor and West Windsor voters approved gave the Mt. Ascutney budget more breathing room in a 305-214 on their $14.8 million budget, cut by the school board from the $15.5 million it had initially proposed. Weathersfield's $8.9 million budget also passed comfortably. Write-ups on all three at the link.SPONSORED: Great teachers and leaders are the heart of great schools! Interested in starting or advancing your career in education? Come to an information session on Wednesday, 4/10 at 6 pm at the Upper Valley Educators Institute to learn how we can help. Interested in networking with other educators? Join us at an online conversation about teaching climate justice or teaching current events. Register for either option at the links above, or visit the burgundy link to learn more about how we engage, inspire, and support educators. Sponsored by the Upper Valley Educators Institute, Lebanon, NH."Growing up in a rural area, there's something about being isolated that resonates with folk music." Hans Williams, who grew up in Norwich, is now 23 and a key player in the small knot of local songwriters who learned the ropes in school, at Tuck's Rock Dojo, and elsewhere and are now coming to the larger world's attention. Ari Morris, a student in Sophie Crane's podcasting class at Dartmouth, caught up with him recently to talk about the Upper Valley's influence on his music, channeling emotionally tough events into his songwriting, listeners' responses, and what it's like to play for a home audience.Longtime Lucky's guy heads out on his own in St. Johnsbury. Gavin Wynkoop-Fischer "learned most of what I know" from Lucky's first coffee manager, Mark Nunziata, and put in years at the mainstay Lebanon spot as a barista, bar manager, and general manager. He's actually still there—but only for a little while. That's because he and partner Maggie Gray, are creating a "neighborhood market and espresso and wine bar" called The Buttery in downtown St. J, where the Cosmic Cup used to be. "We want to add to the energy that's moving forward in town," he tells Seven Days' Jordan Barry.SPONSORED: It’s the hottest ticket in town! Don’t miss Something Rotten! at the Briggs Opera House. It is a hilarious send-up of everything Broadway. With wordplay, buffoonery, and general mayhem, audiences are going to love this show. It’s the perfect combination of smart and silly. Whether you are a Shakespeare scholar or a musical theatre nerd, you’ll love Something Rotten!. Come out and bring your friends—it’s guaranteed to be a joyful night at the theatre! Tickets at the burgundy link. Sponsored by We the People Theatre.Dresden school district adopts secure firearm storage resolution. The board's vote—which took place in February—would make the district the first in NH to commit to conversations with students and parents about safe gun practices at home. “It’s not about whether to have guns, it’s about how to keep them safe," school board member Deborah Bacon Nelson tells the VN's Christina Dolan. The idea is to buttress the kinds of discussions physicians have increasingly been holding with patients—a practice, Nancy Walecki just wrote in The Atlantic (gift link), that's required a serious learning curve.NH, VT establishments among the finalists for James Beard Awards. The "Oscars of the food industry" will be presented in June, and in the running in yesterday's announcement from the James Beard Foundation are: Chris Viaud, owner of Greenleaf, Ansanm, and Pavilion, in Milford and Wolfeboro, NH, for outstanding restaurateur; Barr Hill Cocktail Bar in Montpelier for outstanding bar; and Cara Tobin of Burlington's Honey Road for best chef: Northeast.With no public input, NH Senate committee advances bill to require providers to report abortion particulars to the state. The measure, writes Annmarie Timmins in NH Bulletin, would not require them to identify patients, but would require the patient's age and state of residency, where the abortion was performed, and how the pregnancy was ended. The committee's move, which came without hearings, is drawing opposition from reproductive health providers and may face a challenge from backers of a 2018 constitutional amendment protecting private information. It's due before the Senate Friday.USPS gives go-ahead to changes at Manchester, NH mail sorting facility. As with the WRJ facility, the proposal to move outgoing letter sorting from Manchester to Boston drew strong local opposition—and from NH's congressional delegation. Even so, reports NHPR's Todd Bookman, the postal service on Tuesday said it will go ahead and move some letter-sorting machines to Boston to free up space for inbound package sorting. Overall, he reports, the change is expected to save up to $1.5 million annually. A similar proposal for WRJ has sparked concern among Upper Valley residents.VT Senate passes bill to put big oil companies on the hook for damage caused by climate change. The measure is aimed at companies that sold enough fuel to create more than one billion tons of carbon emissions from 1995-2024, writes Seven Days' Kevin McCallum—and would depend on the state treasurer demanding payment from the companies to put into a fund that could be used only for climate mitigation efforts such as buying flooded-out homes. The bill now goes to the House, where it's also expected to pass. Gov. Phil Scott has not said what he'll do should it come to his desk.Well, this is a switch! VT and NH might actually be some of the best spots in the country for viewing the eclipse. We're days away still and this is northern New England so you never want to rely on a weather forecast this far out, but at the moment, the National Weather Service is predicting decently clear skies for Monday, reports Erin Petenko in VTDigger. Meanwhile, she adds, "clouds are looking likely in many of the typically sunny states in the path of totality." Still, one NWS meteorologist tells Petenko, cloud cover can vary locally. "It won’t be until that day that we’ll know for sure,” he writes.Two gannets underwater, fighting over a fish. That's the grand prize winner of the 2024 World Nature Photographer Awards, but really, every one of the category winners and runners up is eye-catching, from stilt fishermen at sunset in Sri Lanka to an orca hunting herring in Norway to a yellow-billed oxpecker sitting on a water buffalo in Kenya. And many more.The Thursday Vordle. With a word from yesterday's Daybreak.
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Needless to say, double-check anything tonight before you head out the door.
Today at 4:30, Jes Raymond—who among other things is half of the roots-music duo Beecharmer—is kicking off Wilder Dances!, a weekly (on Thursdays) chance to dance and give yourself over to freeform movement. It's got just four rules: No talking on the dance floor; don't be intoxicated; own your own dance and respect others'; and participate in your own dance rather than spectate others'. At the Wilder Club and Library, which as of last night had no plans to close today.
This evening at 6:30, The String Queens will be performing at the Lebanon Opera House — and as the note says: "The String Queens are here and the show will proceed as planned! Be safe on the roads." If you caught yesterday's item about them (or the link to their music), you know why they're worth a jaunt: TSQ is a trio of exuberant performers (and teachers) who "serve as a bridge between classical music and mainstream pop, upending expectations for the string trio format in the process." They've been working via Zoom with Upper Valley Music Center students—who'll join them on stage for several pieces. There's no charge for the concert; LOH was close to maxed out on reservations, but there may be no-shows because of the storm, so call (603.448.0400) to be added to the list. Here's Amy Lilly's Seven Days profile.
And at 7:30 tonight, the Flying Goose Pub in New London hosts the great Canadian folk singer and storyteller David Francey—who's already on the road and will be there to perform, the Flying Goose says. Francey spent his childhood in Scotland, worked in Canada's rail yards and in the Yukon, and then, at age 45, turned the songs he'd been writing in his head into a music career. Since then, he's won three Juno Awards (Canada's Grammys) and had his songs covered by The Del McCoury Band, The Rankin Family, and others.
And if you're staying home, you can check out JAM's highlights for the week, which include: Valley Improv at JAM recently—"The audience shouted out suggestions, and the courageous comedians did as they were told," JAM writes; last month's Mudroom at AVA on the theme, "Promises," with stories by Michele Rogge, Chris Jackson, Tara Friend Cantore, Kate Dembinski, Sharon Blake, and Pat McDevitt; and a February talk at VCE's Suds & Science by Daniel Olson, an assistant professor of engineering at Dartmouth, on using cellulose for biofuels.
And for today...
We're going to travel a bit, thanks to folk singer David Francey (at the Flying Goose tonight)—around the US, Canada, and elsewhere, and back a couple of months. He wrote his song "February Morning Drive" years ago, on his way to a job site in Quebec's Eastern Townships.
“These are the things that greet my eyes," he wrote, struck by the beauty of the scenery he was passing. Now, each year, his fans send in photos of what they're seeing. The 2024 version just went up—east to west and north to south across North America. Plus the odd shot of Germany or Ireland.
See you tomorrow.
The Hiking Close to Home Archives. A list of hikes around the Upper Valley, some easy, some more difficult, compiled by the Upper Valley Trails Alliance. It grows every week.
The Enthusiasms Archives. A list of book recommendations by Daybreak's rotating crew of local booksellers, writers, and librarians who think you should read. this. book. now!
Daybreak Where You Are: The Album. Photos of daybreak around the Upper Valley, Vermont, New Hampshire, and the US, sent in by readers.
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