Above photo: Windham highway superintendent BJ Murray oversaw his first major snowstorm, this week, spending it in the trenches with his crewmen screened inside the department’s Caterpillar skid steer, clearing piles of white stuff from Main Street and municipal parking lots.
A classic nor’easter hit the mountains this week, bringing a mixture of burden for highway workers in every mountaintop town and blessing for Windham with its blanketed ski slopes on the horizon.
WINDHAM - There’s no business like snow business for Windham highway superintendent BJ Murray who, this week, had to oversee his first significant storm.
A classic nor’easter visited the mountains, so Murray - taking office on January 1, 2026 - and his crew weren’t alone, dealing with frigid temperatures, digging out from under two feet of white stuff.
Pretty much every town was doing the same thing, clearing roads and cleaning up Main Streets so folks could get back to everyday living.
It was an arduous task and a mixed deliverance for Windham where the local ski slope should now have plenty of coagulated flakes for weeks.
Murray, meanwhile, was stoic, working in the trenches alongside his men in the department’s Caterpillar skid steer, helping load the plowed piles clogging downtown into dump trucks for relocation.
He was hopeful the job would be done on Wednesday or Thursday at the latest, having been in the thick of it since early Sunday morning.
The cold conditions added to the chore, interfering with the removal process, letting the snow uncooperatively cling to the pavement.
When it was all said and done, however, Murray has experienced enough winters to know how to take it in stride, while respecting Mother Nature.
“Don’t get me wrong, we need to do all this in case there’s another storm, which you never know, but I grew up around here,” he said.
“I remember the seven feet we had a few years back and when I was a kid, I remember some three footers where the snow was taller than me.”
By comparison - and again not wanting to agitate Mother Nature - “this was just another day in the office,” Murray said, noting he formerly worked for a private plower, including during the 7-foot dumper in two separate storms.
That was then. This is now and the new bossman has indisputably been initiated into the club of men and women responsible for the roads.
“I’m definitely looking forward to a good night’s sleep. We all are,” Murray said, an hour so after darkness settled in, Tuesday evening.
“Our whole crew was out there. I was just helping them. The credit goes to them. Any time something like this comes along, I’ll be helping.
“My place is out there with them,” Murray said. “We’re making it safe for our families and neighbors and the people who come to town.”