With a fitting touch of symmetry, summer ended much as it had begun: wet and cold. However, after seemingly non-stop rain in June ushered in summer, it was several inches of heavy snow that saw it to the door.
While a storm over the weekend left a scenic white blanket on Bald Mountain, the effects were less appreciated in the southern end of the Wood River Valley, where heavier snow caused severe damage to trees and, subsequently, property in Hailey and Bellevue.
"I don't recall ever seeing a storm this early with the leaves still on the trees. It looked like a hurricane passed through," Hailey Mayor Rick Davis said. "Trees and limbs were down everywhere. The street crew was up at 4 a.m. on Monday and will likely be working through the rest of the week to clean everything up."
The Ketchum Ranger District reported that 2 inches of snow fell between Friday evening through Monday morning in Ketchum. While there wasn't an exact tally for Hailey or Bellevue, numerous residents estimated snow depths at 8 inches just over a dozen miles south of Sun Valley.
Arborist Pat Rainey, owner of Hailey-based Alpine Tree Service, said he received more than 100 calls on Monday, indicating the extent of the damage from the wet, heavy snow.
"We saw more limb damage than whole tree failure," Rainey said.
Rainey said non-native trees that shed their leaves later in the year, such as Siberian elms and box elders, were more prone to damage because their branches are structured more vertically than those of other trees. He said that causes the trees to have weaker joints where the limbs connect to the tree.
While plenty of damage has already been done, Rainey said it's important to take steps to prevent further problems.
"A lot of trees are borderline right now—people need to drop the snow off the limbs because if it freezes, the next snowfall will laden the limbs further, and with frozen wood it will be much easier for them to break," Rainey said. "Shaking the snow off will really help."
Though no accidents or injuries were reported, numerous vehicles and homes sustained damage from falling limbs.
The storm knocked out power to homes, schools and businesses in both Hailey and Bellevue. On Monday morning, Bellevue had more than 1,550 customers without electricity in an area that included the entire town as well as an area running south along state Highway 75 from Muldoon Canyon to Gannett Road.
The outage caused Bellevue Elementary School to send children home after power was not restored soon after the school opened. The Mountain School, a private school on the northern edge of Bellevue, was also without power and was closed Monday.
By early Monday afternoon, power had been restored to customers between Hailey and Golden Eagle Road. More than 1,600 customers were without power in the morning.
Two additional outages were also reported: one in the Fairfield area, affecting 473 customers, and the other in the Carey area, affecting 106 customers.
Hailey police advised people to exercise caution and to avoid walking or parking under trees still laden with snow. Hailey Police Chief Jeff Gunter said a lot of branches are down, especially in Old Hailey, and they're continuing to fall.
Jon Duval: jduval@mtexpress.com
Storm gives Baldy a head start
The first snowstorm of autumn deposited 17 inches of snow on top of Bald Mountain, according to Sun Valley Resort. The snow fell mostly over Sunday night and into Monday morning. Though Sun Valley is still planning on its traditional Thanksgiving Day mountain opening, spokesman Jack Sibbach said the ski season could start sooner if early snowstorms continue.
This camper on Third Avenue in Old Hailey is evidence of the damage caused by heavy snow in the south valley. While the storm caused power outages in Hailey and Bellevue, it did little damage in Ketchum and Sun Valley.
Photo by Willy Cook
