Blackstone Valley digs out after larger-than- expected snowfall
WOONSOCKET – Say hello to March, the new January.
You’ve shoveled the snow – substantially more than you were expecting, probably – now get ready for the brrrr
Waiting until after the start of meteorological spring to strike the region with her first snowapalooza of the season, Mother Nature follows up in the next few days with the coldest temperatures, too.
, think it’s time to end,” ennis armon said as cleared a sidewalk on Main Street opposite Action Based nterprises, the alternative school where he works. ,’m ready for spring.”
As forecasters tuned and fine-tuned their weather models ahead of the Sunday-into-Monday snow event, few were confident about more than eight or nine inches across interior sections of the state. But Northern hode ,sland checked in with nearly twice as much in some locations – 17 inches in Burrillville, 16 in Cumberland and 14 in Woonsocket.
uite honestly, , was expecting five to eight inches,” said Public Works irector Steven ’Agostino. What happened The storm track changed a little bit so there was more snow on the north.”
Now some of the coldest temperatures of the season move in as the storm moves out to sea.
Yesterday, temperatures nudged a few degrees above freezing in the afternoon. But that could be the last time daytime highs break the freezing mark until Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
As high pressures moves in today, most northern hode ,slanders will wake up to temperatures in the the low to mid-teens. The NWS was predicting an afternoon high of around 31, but the overall trend until Friday is for even colder temperatures.
The trough of cold air reaches its maximum intensity tomorrow night, as temperatures bottom out in the single digits after daytime highs max out in the mid-20s. Thursday, look for more of the same, with sunshine, daytime highs in the 20s and overnight lows barely changed at about 10 degrees.
The temperature outlook moderates slightly on Friday with a high of 34
degrees and an overnight high of around 0.
’$gostino, for one, isn’t a fan of temperatures tramp ing back and forth across the freezing mark when there’s still a lot of snow on the ground. The snowmelt tends to spread across roads and sidewalks, only to refreeze when the temperatures fall back, causing a hazardous condition for motorists and pedestrians.
The freeze thaw cycle also wreaks havoc on roads, hastening the formation of potholes.
“, just wish it would all start melting,” he says. Maybe it will.
The 1ational Weather Service says there’s about a 0 percent chance the region will see precipitation on Sun day in liquid form. (arly forecast models are trending toward rain, but the 1WS says there is a possibility of some mixing with snow, de pending on the timing. The high temperature on Sunday is expected to flirt with 40 degrees.
“Well, we finally got a good one. We’ve been wait ing a whole winter and it fi nally came,” said Michael 5aab as he used a snow blow er to clear his driveway in the oston suburb of $rlington, Massachusetts, on Monday. “The kids were happy there is a snow day. , hope we won’t have too many more of these since we’re looking forward to the spring.”
Monday’s storm, which started Sunday night but hit the hardest in the early morn ing hours, was the largest storm parts of 1ew (ngland have seen in a relatively Tuiet winter.
oston saw about 10 inches of snow, but parts of Connecticut, 5hode ,sland and Massachusetts saw up to 1 inches, according to the 1ational Weather Service. The oston area has now registered about inches of snowfall this season, still below the region’s average of over inches.
“,t just takes one storm and we’re up back close to where we typically are this time of year,” said Williams. “We caught up Tuite a bit with this one system.”
1ew (nglanders have grown accustomed in recent years to seeing winter start slowly and linger past its wel come.
“We’re kind of used to it by now,” said Tracy Scat terday as she shoveled snow and her two daughters played outside their house in $rling ton. “, feel like March is our month now for snow.”
Meanwhile, just inches of slushy snow fell in 1ew ork City and Tuickly began to melt Monday.
The modest totals were still enough for emocratic Mayor ill de lasio to close schools, as did hundreds of other communities through out the country impacted by the storm.
,n parts of 1ebraska, dan gerously cold temperatures prompted closures as wind chill temperatures registered as low as 40 below zero Mon day morning.
,n 1ew (ngland, nearly 0,000 customers were with out power at the storm’s peak, though many of those had their power restored by the afternoon.
,n the oston suburb of 1eedham, a snowplow struck a gas meter at an assisted liv ing complex, triggering a gas leak and forcing more than 100 elderly residents to evac uate. 1o injuries were report ed and residents were able to return after a few hours.
,n northern Maine, a small regional jet carrying 8 pas sengers and three crew mem bers slid off a runway at Pr esTue ,sland ,nternational $irport.
The pilot and three pas sengers suffered minor inju ries, and part of the plane’s landing gear appeared to have been torn away as it came to rest in deep snow Monday morning.