tation amounts of 13 in. The melting ice and sleet plus the rain caused widespread roadways,
evacuated from their homes.
February 1415, 1986
NH: torrential rains in Northeast
fiercest ice storm in 30 years over higher elevations in the Monadnock Region
in 10-mile-wide swath from MA border to New London
Dublin hardest hit
ice over 1" thick, reports of ice 2.5 and 3" thick
crescendo of falling trees and limbs knocked out phone and power
4,800 residents without power for up to 3 days
Storm Data
2/1415/86
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Monadnock Region; Cheshire, Sullivan, and W. Halves of Hillsborough and Merrimack Counties.
NH03>06 (Ice Storm)
A stationary front offshore ran from the New Jersey coast to south of Nova Scotia, Friday morn-
ing. A low-pressure area formed on the front south of New England late Friday, moved across
Cape Cod Saturday morning, and was east of Nova Scotia Saturday night. This system brought
torrential rains to the northeast. However, with temperatures hovering around the freezing mark
over the higher elevations of the Monadnock Region, it produced the fiercest ice storm in 30
years. A swath about 10 miles wide and 60 miles long stretched from the Massachusetts border to
New London (Merrimack County) where authorities said the ice was over one inch thick with
several reports of 2 1/2 to 3 inches of ice accretion. The "crescendo of falling trees and tree
limbs," Friday night and Saturday, knocked out telephone and power lines and blocked roads.
Dublin (Cheshire County) was the hardest hit area, where the weight of the ice cracked 18 utility
poles, pulled down a one-mile stretch of power lines, and snapped numerous trees that were one
foot in diameter. A house fire in Dublin was caused by a power surge. Firemen took 20 minutes
63
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