Bit of a mess

Residents trudge through first snowfall of 2019

A storm swung through Connecticut on Tuesday, dropping several inches of snow and less than half an inch of ice over the span of more than eight hours.

Snow started to fall in the southwest corner of the state around 8:20 a.m. and hit central Connecticut a little after 9 a.m. It continued to fall until roughly 4 p.m., when it was replaced by freezing rain, making travel hazardous. Roads already slick from snow turned icy and officials urged residents to stay home until the storm passed.

Throughout the day various crashes were reported on highways and in towns and cities across the state as drivers struggled through the snow and ice.

Most schools in the area were closed Tuesday and officials canceled scheduled meetings so residents didn’t have to go out on icy roads.

“We’re handling this the way we handle any other storm,” Middletown Mayor Daniel T. Drew said just after 3 p.m., reminding residents that the city has imposed a parking ban.

In Cromwell, the Cromwell Belden Public Library closed four hours early but Town Manager Anthony J. Salvatore said most things were proceeding on a regular course.

“It’s snowing, and we are responding appropriately,” he said.

In East Hampton, officials canceled its Town Council meeting scheduled for Tuesday. Town Manager Michael Maniscalco said that with the forecast calling for heavy icing, he and Council Vice Chairman Mark Philhower decided to err on the side of caution.

There was one item on the agenda tangentially related to the weather. For years, the town has been in negotiations with a developer over accepting Whispering Woods Road as a town-approved road. If the town does accept the road, which it is expected to do, it will be responsible for, among other things, plowing it, Maniscalco said.

When the meeting was cancelled, Maniscalco said the town decided to just go ahead and plow the road in any case “to ensure the public is safe.”

As peak evening rush hour hit, top speeds on most of Connecticut’s highways hovered around 40 mph, though no major crashes were reported by Connecticut State Police or the Connecticut Department of Transportation as of 6 p.m.

However, many secondary roadways across Connecticut hadn’t even seen a plow by around 5 p.m.

Although Metro-North Railroad didn’t appear to have any serious weatherrelated problems throughout Tuesday, airports saw some cancelations as a result of the snowstorm.

Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks estimated 25 percent of Tuesday’s flights were canceled because of the weather. The airport also reported a small number of delays.

Cassandra Day / Hearst Connecticut Media A private plow operator clears snow from the Suburban Stationers parking lot on High Street on Tuesday afternoon.

Tuesday’s storm dropped about 2.5 inches of lightweight snow in Middletown’s North End before changing to sleet by late afternoon. Here, barren winter trees frame a view of the Coginchaug River from the vantage point of the Philip Salafia Sr. Canoe and Kayak Launch off Johnson Street.