| USA TODAY | - |
Residents
of the East Coast can expect to be hit with extremely cold
temperatures, as a major snow storm moves out. Tuesday's storm dropped a
foot or more of snow in some areas from Virginia to New England.
Residents dig out from storm that dropped up to 18 inches south of Boston
Shivering in the bitter cold, Massachusetts
residents shoveled out and brushed off cars covered in snow today as a
winter storm wound down that dumped loads of snow in some sections of
the state and a light fluffy dusting in others.
Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said he lifted
Boston’s emergency parking ban at 8 a.m. after he stayed up much of the
night monitoring the response to his first snowstorm.
“The streets are good,” Walsh said. “Down to the pavement.”
The snow piled highest in areas south and east
of Boston. Norwell, which got 18.3 inches overnight, had the highest
recorded snowfall in the state, closely followed by Hanover, with 18
inches, and Duxbury, with 17 inches, the National Weather Service said.
Snow amounts tapered off to the north and
west, with much of Northeastern, Central and Western Massachusetts
getting only an inch or two, according to a snowfall report map issued
by the service.
At Logan International Airport in Boston, more
than 4 inches of snow were recorded. Jamaica Plain was the snowiest
section of the city, with 7.4 inches recorded.
At the height of the storm, there were 550
pieces of snowfighting equipment on the city’s streets, and the city
used a quarter of its road salt supply. By 7 a.m., the number of plows
and salt spreaders operating had dropped to 300, Mayor Martin J. Walsh
said this morning.
There were no major incidents or crimes
overnight, Walsh said. Boston Emergency Medical Services responded to
one call for hypothermia, and there were reports of five fires and seven
or eight carbon monoxide scares.
Municipal leaders north and west of Boston
also ended snow emergencies this morning, and the Massachusetts Turnpike
resumed normal speed limits after several hours where speed was reduced
to 40 miles per hour.
The MBTA reported a variety of problems linked
not to the snowfall, but to the single-digit temperatures in the
region. For example, Transportation Secretary Richard Davey said that
only three of the 10 trolley cars used on the Ashmont-Mattapan trolley
line functioned this morning, forcing the use of buses.
And T officials said they are concerned that
the long wave of bitterly cold weather could impact the transportation
network. “We do anticipate those temperatures will have an effect on
service,’’ said MBTA spokesman Joseph Pesaturo. “The arctic conditions
make it difficult to keep every bus, subway, and train operating on its
regular schedule.’’
He urged commuters to check the MBTA’s website for service updates.
Davey said Logan International Airport is
open, but that there are some flight delays and cancellations due to
weather-related conditions at other airports in the Northeast.
“The later in the day your flight is, the
better chance you have for taking off on time,” Davey said. “People
should be checking with their airlines’’ before heading to Logan, he
said.
The weather service said how your commute went depended on where you lived this morning.
“If you are coming from the north and west of
Boston, it’s really going to be a piece of cake. They did not get much
snow,’’ said weather service meteorologist Alan Dunham. “But coming up
from Cape Cod and Plymouth on Route 3 … they got much more snow and it
will continue to snow until early mid-afternoon.’’
Temperatures will crest near 17 degrees today,
though wind chill values could plummet to minus-8 degrees. Wind gusts
as high as 32 miles per hour will create some areas of blowing snow
between noon and 4 p.m.
“There may be some very light flurries, but no
real accumulation in Boston,” said weather service meteorologist Bill
Simpson. “Another 2 to 3 inches is possible through this afternoon at
the Cape.”
Tonight should be dry and cloudy, with a low around 5 degrees and a wind chill value of minus-9.
Blizzard warnings were in effect for Plymouth
County and the Cape and islands until 1 p.m. today. Winds may gust up to
50 miles per hour and produce nearly a foot of snow, the weather
service said.
Dunham said the bitterly cold weather will intensify.
“It’s cold out there and it’s going to get
colder,’’ he said. Gusting winds will drive the wind chill to below zero
in Boston over the next several days.
The average winter snowfall in Boston is about 43 inches, but last night’s snowfall brought us to 33.4 inches, Simpson said.
“We’re probably double what is normal at this point,” Simpson said. “Snowfall by this point should only be 19.3 inches.”
Governor Deval Patrick postponed the annual
State of the Commonwealth speech last night, but state executive offices
are expected to operate on regular business hours today, according to
state social media postings. A date for his speech has not yet been set.
The Massachusetts Trial Court said this
morning that the courthouses in Barnstable, Bristol, Plymouth, Dukes,
and Nantucket counties would be closed today. Also, Norfolk County
courthouses had a 10 a.m. delayed opening. First-day jury service was
canceled for all of the state, except Berkshire, Hampshire, and Franklin
counties.
Davey said the highways north and west of
Boston were in good shape, but that the continuing snowfall in
southeastern Massachusetts and the Cape was proving more challenging. He
said there had not been any major storm-related transportation issues.
“So far, so good,’’ he said.
Walsh said he got home to Savin Hill at about 10 p.m. Tuesday and shoveled his own walk and driveway.
“The good thing about this storm is the snow is light,” he said.
He monitored the storm on Twitter until 1:30
a.m. He was up at 5 a.m. for a conference call with his snow team and
then made a round of calls to television and radio stations.
Walsh defended his decision to cancel classes to for Boston public schools.
“People are going to say, ‘You jumped
prematurely,’” Walsh said. “It’s cold. With all the salt, it is wet. I’d
rather be safe than sorry.”
John R. Ellement can be reached at ellement@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @JREbosglobe.
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