Frigid cold nipped at New England today after the region's fourth winter storm in a month blew through, piling another foot of snow on top of two-metre-high mounds in Boston, and forecasters said another winter blast might hit midweek.
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New Englanders were talking in superlatives — harshest, most relentless — with a winter that has tested their mettle. Forecasters warned Sunday of exceptionally cold air, perhaps the coldest in years. Strong winds were expected to continue into Monday, reducing visibility, creating drifts and complicating an ongoing cleanup effort.
Tom Ward shovels snow in front of his Norwood, Mass. home on Sunday. A storm brought a new round of wind-whipped snow to New England, forcing people to contend with a fourth winter onslaught in less than a month. (Steven Senne/Associated Press)
"It's historic, it's biblical," Frank Libby said as he walked down a deserted street in Boston's Back Bay neighbourhood. "I think we're in uncharted territory. People just don't know how to deal with the logistics of it."
A bone-chilling blast of cold blew into New England as the last snowflakes fell Sunday.
"The big story is subzero air temperatures with wind chills as low as 20 to 40 below zero (–29 C to –40 C)," Matthew Belk of the National Weather Service said, adding that exposed skin could start to develop frostbite in "a matter of minutes."
"The big thing is to dress in layers, and don't go outside if you don't have to," he said.
Discouraging forecast
The Arctic cold front already had frozen the upper Midwest, with temperatures in Michigan plunging to –33 C in the Upper Peninsula.
Allan Tufankjian of Scituate, Mass., said it's discouraging every time he looks at the forecast.
"If I saw one day that was above freezing, I'd be very happy," he said. "I looked seven days ahead and every single day, the highest temperature I could see is 26 degrees (–3 C)."
The Klose family — Clint, Sue and daughters Caitlin and Kiersten — attacked a mountain of snow in front of their Concord, N.H., house Sunday morning. Just last week, Clint Klose booked a trip for the girls and him to Orlando, Fla.
"You just need a break!" he said. "We need some Vitamin D that we've been deprived of."
Klose said the family wouldn't forget this winter.
One after another
"I would say it's been the harshest winter in the shortest amount of time," he said. "In the past five weeks, it's just been a slamming event and a slamming event and a slamming event one after the other."
Some areas of New England reported more than 60 centimetres of snow from the storm. Boston recorded 33 cm of new snow. At the easternmost tip of Maine, Lubechad had 61 cm. With many intersections already clogged by soaring snow banks, forces mobilized before the storm to remove piles of snow.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said it would resume limited service Monday after the latest in the string of snowstorms forced the agency to suspend service again. Rail service was scheduled to operate at most underground stations. The Blue Line will be open through to Logan International Airport. MBTA said commuter rail lines will reopen on a Saturday schedule, as will certain bus routes.
The storm did not bring the eye-popping snow totals of the previous New England storms this season, but made its presence felt with lightning strikes and strong winds that left visibility close to zero for stretches along the coast.
Australian sailors rescued
On Cape Ann north of Boston, Patrick McGehee said he was awed by lightning strikes early Sunday when he took his dog outside. "I wasn't sure what was going on, if it was some kind of spiritual event or what," said McGehee, the owner of the Mary's by the Sea summer rental business in Rockport. "The whole sky lit up like somebody lit up a lightbulb."
The Coast Guard said it rescued an Australian father-son sailing team whose boat lost power and had its sails torn in 60 mph winds about 140 miles southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts. In Vermont, winds forced the shut-down of the Lake Champlain ferry cross between Charlotte and Essex, N.Y.
Forecasters say a snowstorm could bring 15 to 23 cm to parts of Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee. Freezing rain was forecast for northern Mississippi and snow and sleet is possible in north Georgia. A storm also threatened to hit Atlanta, where just over a year ago an ice storm trapped commuters for hours on the region's freeways.
Belk, the weather forecaster, said that after heading out to sea, the storm may turn north and drop a fresh round of snow on the Northeast on Tuesday, though it's unclear how much. "The question is whether it grazes by southern New England on its way out to the North Atlantic," he said.
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