'Snowtober' Still Fresh in Portsmouth Residents' Minds

On Saturday night, Oct. 29, 2011, Portsmouth area residents woke up to a shocking and amazing sight: snow, lots of snow.

Thanks to a confluence of weather factors, what should have been a typical October shower turned into a blanket of white that covered all manner of Halloween decorations and forced city Public Works department snow removal crews into early action. The storm, which quickly became known as "Snowtober," also caused widespread power outages through the Portsmouth area and the state.

As the Portsmouth area gets ready to brace for Hurricane Sandy later on Monday afternoon, some Portsmouth residents still wonder in the back of their minds if they might see some white stuff before this latest storm is over. Let's hope not.

What follows are several of the photos we shot the morning after Snowtober. Here is what we reported a year ago:

City residents were unpleasantly surprised by a winter snow storm that left as much as four- to six inches of heavy, wet snow in its wake on Sunday, forcing trick or treat to be postponed from Sunday to Monday night.

As many as 3,190 Public Service of New Hampshire utility customers were left without power for several hours from Saturday night into Sunday after the wet snow downed tree limbs and power lines. City Public Works crews and Portsmouth firefighters were kept busy during the height of the storm dealing with the damage.

On Sunday morning, the snow melted quickly in Market Square and other parts of downtown Portsmouth, but city residents who wanted to go trick or treating with their kids were forced to wait until Monday night after city officials postponed it.

Tim Lefebvre, a South Street resident who decorated his house with plenty of witches, ghosts, ghouls and gravestones for Halloween, summed up the mood best: "Hate it. It's just too early."