outlined areas indicated on this map as low damage severity should actually be included in the
moderate damage severity category (Laura Boffinger, personal communication). Other sources of
information that we used to summarize elevation ranges for ice damage in New Hampshire are
the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Appalachian Trail Conference, and local residents. The
NHDFL reported that the lower elevation limit for significant icing was at about 1200 ft south of
the White Mountains. In the White Mountains National Forest the lower limit of ice damage
decreased from about 2000 ft in the southern White Mountains to 1600 ft in the northern White
Mountains. The upper limit of ice damage is at about 4000 ft, indicating that these higher eleva-
tions were in the warm air layer. Above the halfway point on the Mount Washington auto road
there was no ice on January 9 (Mark Twickler, personal communication). It was estimated that
between 10 and 15% of the Forest's 750,000 acres was impacted, with the heaviest damage oc-
curring in the northern portion of the Forest. North of the White Mountains, the lower elevation
of ice damage to trees was at 900 ft on east-facing slopes and 1700 ft on west-facing slopes.
Some reports from around the state noted that the most damage occurred on eastern or southeast
facing slopes, while in other areas no directional differences were apparent. Examples of tree
damage in New Hampshire are shown in Fig. 13a through g, generally from south to north across
the state. The ice-covered trees in the photo in Fig. 13a are along the road between Harrisville
and Dublin. The elevation of the road between those towns ranges from 1300 to 1650 ft. The
damage shown in Fig. 13b occurred in Bradford at an elevation of 1250 ft, while lower eleva-
tions escaped the ice. An example of the tree damage in New London (1300 ft), which was
hard hit by the storm, is shown in Fig. 13c. Nearby, at higher elevations in Enfield, the ice load-
ing was severe. A uniform ice thickness of 0.7 in., measured on January 12, caused the damage
shown in Fig. 13d at 1660 ft. In New Hampton Jamie DiFillippe (personal communication)
described light tree damage beginning at 900 ft, with the landscape at 1200 ft looking like a
"total disaster" with maple trees split down the middle, but little damage to evergreens. In the
Lakes region, there was tree damage, for example, in Wolfeboro at 540 ft (Fig. 13e) and near
Ossipee at 900 ft (Fig. 13f). Farther north, there was no ice on the summit of Cannon Mountain
(Bert Davis, personal communication) or on Mount Washington above about 3600 ft, but at low-
er elevations on the mountain above 1800 ft, ice caused the damage shown in Fig. 13g. North-
west of Berlin in the Kilkenney Area of the White Mountain National Forest at 1640 ft, ice
brought down trees, which knocked out power and blocked roads to the fish hatchery (John Farr
and Royce Benedict, Berlin Fish Hatchery, personal communication).
In Maine the forest damage assessment was undertaken by the Maine Forest Service. Its map
(Fig. 11c) shows seven levels of damage severity. The levels are defined by the percent of affect-
ed trees: a) trace, 1 to 5% breakage, b) light, 6 to 20% breakage, c) moderate, 21 to 50% break-
age, and d) high, over 50% breakage. Two regions with trace-to-light damage, primarily along
the coast, total 1.6 million acres. Ice loads caused moderate damage and moderate-to-high dam-
age just inland of this region, over 3.8 million acres. Even farther inland, light and light-to-
moderate damage occurred over 2.8 million acres. There was high damage to 0.3 million acres in
the northwestern corner of the state, while 4.7 million acres had only trace damage or less. Ex-
amples of tree damage in the storm are shown in Fig. 14a through e. Ice accumulation damaged
trees in Minot (330 ft) shown in Fig. 14a. At an elevation of 400 ft in Gray, north of Portland,
there was extensive tree damage (Fig. 14b) caused by ice loads approaching 1 in., while in Port-
land itself there was very little ice. The region around Augusta was hard hit by the storm (Fig.
14c). The ice load that bent the birch trees to the ground in Fig. 14d, between Mount Ver-
19
Back to contents page
Previous Page
