The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Frigid temps to follow snow, ice from latest storm
A winter storm brought a few inches of snow to Connecticut Monday night and Tuesday.
The storm started off with fluffy powder, but transitioned to freezing rain and slush as the morning went on, prompting schools around the state to close. But despite the dreary weather by around noon, the storm brought fewer immediate impacts than prior storms the week before.
Temperatures were in the 20s and 30s during the day, but were forecast to plummet into the teens Tuesday night, with skies gradually clearing. The cold will be aggravated by winds gusting up to around 25 mph, sending wind chill values down to around zero, the weather service warned.
Wednesday is expected to see sunny skies return, but the day will remain chilly with highs forecast to only reach the high 20s.
Thursday will bring increasing clouds and highs in the low 30s, the weather service said.
Another round of snow is possible on Friday, continuing into the overnight hours, the weather service said.
Eversource, the state’s largest electrical utility, reported only a handful of outages throughout Tuesday morning. United Illuminating, which serves a smaller area in the greater Bridgeport and New Haven region, also reported only a few outages.
State police said troopers responded to 52 traffic crashes without reported injuries, and four with injuries, between Monday evening and Tuesday morning. State police also logged 82 traffic service calls, a designation that includes disabled or abandoned vehicles, debris in the road, or spinouts, the agency said.
Most of Connecticut saw anywhere from 1 to 2 inches of snowfall as of Tuesday afternoon.
That was a significant departure from Connecticut’s first widespread winter storm of the
season, which dumped more than a foot in some areas.
But the storm was remarkable for the tristate region in at least one respect: at Central Park, it ended a 701-day streak since the park last recorded an inch of snow, the National Weather Service said.
The latest storm came at the heels of a week of heavy rain.
After the first winter storm of the season, the state saw two major wind and rain events last week. Those storms melted the accumulated snow in a matter of hours, swelling rivers and streams with runoff that prompted a brief evacuation order on the Yantic River in Norwich.
Over the weekend, Gov. Ned Lamont’s office said the Biden administration had authorized federal officials to assist in response to the flooding.
Tuesday morning saw residents out brushing snow from their cars and clearing snow from parking lots and driveways. Schools throughout the state announced closures, with some citing the risk of ice during dismissal.
Dozens of flights in the region were delayed or canceled. Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks reported 41 flights delayed and 11 canceled Tuesday, according to data from FlightAware, a flight tracking service. Tweed New Haven Regional Airport reported five flights delayed, though none was cancelled. Westchester County Airport, in New York, reported 33 flights delayed and 6 canceled.
Several major crashes were reported on Connecticut highways during the storm, though it was unclear whether they were weather related. In Stonington, a tractortrailer hauling 40,000 pounds of bananas overturned Tuesday morning, resulting in minor injuries and closing an exit ramp on Interstate 95 for hours.