Remembering the Great Ice Storm of November 26-29, 1921

In late November, 1921, a 3 day storm brought heavy rain to eastern sections of New England and as much as two feet of snow to northern areas, but in a band running from northern Rhode Island to Worcester to southern New Hampshire there was mixed precipitation lasting upwards of 75 hours with resultant severe damage. Dr. Charles Franklin Brooks was then on the faculty of Clark University in Worcester and witnessed the storm first hand. He and an assistant Mr G.H. Howe wrote the following edited account in American Meteorological Journal:

Even the “oldest inhabitant” admits the ice storm of November 26-29 was the worst that has been known in this section. Snow began to fall at 2 P.M. on the 26th and changed to rain at 4:45 P.M. The temperature of wet surfaces remained below freezing and the air temperature fell to 25 degrees in the evening on the 27th with rain and some sleet falling. Freezing rain fell all day on the 28th with an increasing north-northeast wind and temperatures just below freezing. A wild night followed with sleet and freezing rain and wind gusts now taking down tree limbs with vivid flashes of green in the sky as trolley wheels arcing on iced over wires. At sunrise on the 29th a thunderstorm with pink flashes of lightening awakened the people to a scene of destruction. There was upwards of 5 inches of combined snow, sleet, and freezing rain on the ground by Tuesday morning. Ice on 1/4 diameter wires measured 2 inches, weighing 1.3 lbs per foot. Several people were killed by falling limbs.

Total precipitation which fell in the 75 1/2 hours of the storm was 4.05 inches – .28 was snow and about 1.68 was sleet. Damage in Worcester was several hundred of thousands of dollars.