The blizzard that barreled up the East Coast over the weekend dumped nearly 3 feet of snow on some Massachusetts communities and left parts of the city under 22 inches, the National Weather Service reported Sunday afternoon when the storm finally began slowing.
The nor’easter, which hit Boston at about 10 p.m. Friday night, matched the city’s record for maximum daily snowfall, with 11.9 inches falling between Friday and Saturday the most in a single day since 1981, according to the NWS website. Wind gusts up to 60 mph knocked down trees and power lines, caused flooding in many of the state’s coastal communities, knocked telephone poles onto houses in Cohasset and Nantucket and rendered some roads impassable.
The NWS reported that the storm blanketed East Boston in 22 inches as of 10 a.m. Sunday morning, with wind leaving 6-foot snow drifts in places. As of Sunday afternoon, 16.4 inches had fallen at Boston’s Logan International Airport, 19 inches had fallen in Jamaica Plain and 18.5 inches had fallen in Dorchester.
Mayor Thomas Menino declared a snow emergency parking ban, which went into effect Saturday at 2 p.m., according to the city’s official website.
The city also opened its Emergency Storm Center, which was staffed by representatives from the departments of Public Works, Transportation, Inspectional Services, Parks and Recreation, Police, Fire and Water and Sewer. The Mayor’s 24-hour service, the Emergency Medical Service, NStar and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority also helped staff the center. The storm center fielded calls throughout the weekend from Boston residents with storm-related concerns, including plow requests, power outages and downed trees.
The snow emergency also prompted city officials to cancel Monday classes at all Boston Public Schools.
Some communities just 20 minutes outside of the city to the north and west were hit much harder Peabody got 35.6 inches of snow, more than any town in the state, the NWS reported.
The narrow ‘bands’ of intense snowfall along I-95 were blamed on mesoscale banding – ‘near freezing’ air blowing in from the coast converged with the ‘colder polar airmass’ from the west, providing ‘the necessary lift to increase a 20-inch snowstorm in the Boston area to 30 inches in spots just north and west of the city,’ according to a NWS statement.
Other towns and cities in surrounding counties were socked more than the city, as the blizzard left 32 inches in Beverly and 28.5 inches in Everett.
Among the hardest hit in Norfolk County with 24.3 inches was Foxborough, where fans at Sunday’s New England Patriots game against the Miami Dolphins had to dig out their seats in Gillette Stadium. Pats fans made use of the snow by the fourth quarter, throwing fistfuls of the white stuff in celebration after linebacker Tedy Bruschi returned an interception for a touchdown with 8:55 left in the game, helping the team clinch the AFC East title with a 12-0 win.
The storm’s snowfall totals in Boston already exceeded the city’s snowfall total for the entire month of December last year, which was 11.1 inches, according to the NWS. The hardest-hitting storms usually do not hit Boston until February, and the city normally only sees 6.9 inches of snow in December.
Other than mountainous snow drifts, stinging wind and flying snowballs, Boston University students said they did not have to deal with anything too terrible during the storm, and most were happy to order food via delivery, catch a movie and play in the snow.
‘I gained a newfound respect for American capitalism when the Lucky Wah guy braved the Arctic conditions to bring me $10 worth of Chinese food,’ said Chris Vermilion, a College of Engineering sophomore. Vermilion said he had never seen a car completely buried in snow before and said he had a tough time trekking from his Bay State Road residence to the Fenway AMC Theater to see Matrix: Revolutions Saturday night.
Cynthia Swanson, a College of Arts and Sciences sophomore, braved the weather to make it to her 6 a.m. WTBU radio show Sunday morning. By that time, Swanson said, Buildings ‘ Grounds had plowed the sidewalk in front of the College of Communication, where the WTBU studio is located, but had not yet shoveled a path to the building.
‘I like the snow, even though it’s a pain because it’s kind of exciting,’ Swanson said. ‘But I think too many people try to throw snowballs at me. It was a battle to get to COM this morning … I was kind of leaping in foot-[high] snow.’
Despite the massive snowfall, icy roads and several unplowed sidewalks surrounding the university, some students said Sunday they did not think Monday classes should be canceled.
‘If there’s a reason that faculty are having difficulty getting to the campus’ then classes should be canceled, said CAS sophomore James Laurenti. ‘But if there’s nothing impeding their way, then let’s have class. It’s near the end of the semester anyway, and I’m sure the teachers really want these Monday classes.’
Swanson said she thought classes should be held because the snow stopped this afternoon, but added, ‘If it started snowing again, I’d say we shouldn’t.’
Staff writer Allison Brown contributed to this report.