Guide to the Cultural and Natural History of the Four Soldiers Path

The Ice Storm of 1998

Eighteen million acres of forestland were damaged across the Northeast.
Randolph Hill looked like a war zone.

While New England residents are accustomed to harsh winter weather, the ice storm of 1998 was something altogether different. Usually ice storms are short lived, as they require specific conditions: a layer of air at temperatures just slightly above freezing on top of a layer of air just below freezing. In most ice storms, the layers mix after several hours, and the air either warms producing rain, or cools producing snow, or, with more dynamic atmospheric conditions, the storm just goes on its way.

The storm of 1998 did none of these three things. It resulted from a front, stuck in place for days over northern New England, southern Quebec, and New Brunswick. At fronts, or boundaries between warm and cold air masses, colder air near the ground tends to wedge under warmer air, because the cold air is denser. If objects on the ground are well below freezing after several cold days, then rain reaches the ground as liquid, but freezes on contact. This is exactly what happened in 1998.

After one day, Randolph Hill was virtually encased in ice. The severity of the icing was very dependent on elevation, however, and areas along Durand Road were largely unaffected. Cold weather continued for days after the icing had subsided, preventing the ice from melting and causing trees and limbs to crack with even the tiniest of breezes. The sound, along with the sight in the forest, is what will stay in many residents’ memories.While life slowly returned to normal for most residents, the storm left its mark. Randolph Hill looked like a war zone.

The forest, however, has a way of springing back from disturbance. The forest canopy, which blocks sunlight from reaching understory tree species, has disappeared in many of the affected areas; forest succession will occur rapidly in these places. New wildlife habitats will be created. There is a bonanza of detritus and nutrients now on the forest floor, and the healthy trees that withstood the storm will be the ones whose progeny will populate the forest in years to come.

Note: Some ice-storm damage can be seen along the path in the cleared areas, a mile or so north and south of the height of land. Tree tops are sparsely leaved, and some broken limbs can be seen. Also, as of 2004, typical forest understory plants are out in the open. Trillium for example, can be found at nearly every point along the trail. The ice-storm damaged trees, now gone, no longer cover these plants; they are exposed to more sunlight, and will eventually be out competed by sun loving plant species.

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