Wind gusts cracked 100 miles per hour in the mountains and even hit 76 on ground level in Lake Placid.

Trees crashed down all over, with one hitting a moving car in Lake Placid. The driver was uninjured, according to firefighters, but the windshield was smashed. A tree carrying lines and a power line pole hit a house in Lake Placid. There was no structural damage, according to firefighters. In Lake Placid, a tractor trailer got tangled in wires after a tree had fallen on the lines and lowered them. Firefighters said the driver was able to get out safely.

There were several car crashes with no injuries, the causes of which are being investigated by New York State Police.

The Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department responded to 12 storm-related calls and the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department responded to nine.

A giant pine tree blocks one lane of state Route 73 amid fierce winds reaching up to 70 miles per hour on Friday morning. Jess Collier, who took this photo, said this was one of two large downed trees she encountered on her commute, which was extended by 30 minutes that morning. (Provided photo — Jess Collier)

LPVFD Fire Driver Matt Wood said this was more than normal for them during a winter storm. SLVFD Fire Driver Ben Tucker said this was about average for them, maybe even a bit less.

Social media filled with pictures of trees blocking roads. There were widespread power outages, with more than 7,400 National Grid customers in Franklin and Essex counties losing power at some point. Most of these outages had been resolved by the evening.

The Saranac Lake Central School District cancelled all classes after a power outage.

All the nice fluffy snow that was coating the trees and lawns was wiped out in the rain, but winter quickly began replenishing the white coating of the Adirondacks.

More wind was forecast Friday night into Saturday morning.

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Wind and weather

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Temperatures rose into the 50s in the morning. But between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. dropped 20 degrees to get back down below freezing.

Meteorologist Eric Myskowski, with the National Weather Service’s Burlington, Vermont station said along with steady winds in the mid-to-high 20 miles per hour, there were gusts between 50 and 70 mph throughout the Adirondacks.

Myskowski said wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph are common a couple of times per winter. It’s uncommon to get 60 mph winds, and 70 is “quite uncommon.” It’s been a few years since a gust like that had been recorded.

A gust of 112 mph was recorded on the summit of Whiteface Mountain.

Some of the highest gusts recorded in towns were a 76-mph-gust at Uihlein Farm in Lake Placid, a 65-mph gust in Malone and a 61-mph gust at the Adirondack Regional Airport, north of Saranac Lake.

Myskowski said there’s a strong low-pressure system trapped to the west of the Adirondacks over the Great Lakes.

“With counter-clockwise flow around low pressure you get southernly winds on the eastern side,” he said.

It moved slow enough that a lot of warm, moist air moved in from the southern Atlantic Ocean ahead of the system, which brought the heavy rain.

He said the Adirondack terrain enhances the wind on the north side of the mountains. Strong winds come over the High Peaks and as they descend, they get stronger.

With low temperatures Friday night, Myskowski said that people should be careful driving and walking as slush or standing water will get frozen. This isn’t flash freezing, he said, but there’s a potential for black ice.

He said the winds are forecast to continue throughout today, but not as strong as on Friday. Light snow is expected and the temperature will stay lower.

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National Grid

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National Grid Strategic Communications Manager Jared Paventi said nearly 7,400 customers in Franklin and Essex counties lost service during the storm.

The NBC5 outage map showed that around 11 a.m. on Friday, 14% of Franklin County had lost power.

“Gusty winds caused damage to both our distribution system — which carries power to neighborhoods and communities — and our sub-transmission system — the lines that bridge our distribution and high-voltage transmission networks,” Paventi said. “In addition to wind compromising poles and taking down power lines, we saw significant tree damage, which has made access difficult.”

As of 2:15 p.m. Friday, around 1,600 remained without power.

As of 3 p.m. Friday, service had been restored to more than 54,000 of the nearly 66,000 customers affected by the storm across northern New York.

“Crews will remain in the field until the last customer is restored,” Paventi said.

They had prepared for the storm by increasing staffing to 2,300 in high-impact areas, extending overnight work shifts and bringing in crews from Connecticut, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

“We ask our customers to please drive slowly and cautiously when approaching utility crews at work and to abide by road closures or restrictions due to the damaged equipment,” National Grid Vice President of New York Electric Operations Kyle Bentley said in a statement.

Paventi said with snow and ice coming after the wind, they are preparing for the potential of additional outages throughout the weekend.

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Lake Placid and Tupper Lake

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Lake Placid Municipal Electric Department Head Kimball Daby said that they had around 200 homes with outages — mostly on Cascade Road, Averyville Road and River Road.

Not all the outages were resolved as of 2 p.m. on Friday, but he said they were working to get them all fixed before dark. The weather turned in their favor, with snow instead of rain and the wind dying down.

Crews from Plattsburgh, Massena and Tupper Lake came in to help get them back on-line, and the Lake Placid highway department and fire department assisted — around 20 people in total.

Daby said this was more outages than usual for a winter storm.

Tupper Lake Municipal Electric Department Superintendent Mike Dominie said they did not have any outages — only a few reports of cable lines down.