By Beth David, Editor
This weekend’s storm hit all the markers to be officially declared a blizzard, with the following conditions lasting for more than three hours: falling or blowing snow, sustained winds or frequent gusts of at least 35 MPH, visibility of less than a quarter mile. The snow started falling late on Friday, intensified overnight, and blew all day Saturday, tapering off in the evening and ending at night.
In addition to Massachusetts, Blizzard conditions were confirmed in parts of New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.
We definitely had it all with this classic nor’reaster. The snow was a little wet and heavy at first, but then, as predicted, the temperature dropped and the bulk of the snow was light and fluffy. High winds caused huge drifts. Anyone who cleared snow before it was over saw the wind put it all back.
Temperatures dropped to about 10 degrees, with wind chills about nine below zero.Thousands of homes in Fairhaven and Acushnet lost power for several hours, but most had it back before nightfall on Saturday. More than 120,000 outages were reported in Mass. at one point.
Sunday was dig-out day, with the buzz of snow blowers and the grunts and groans of shovelers on nearly every block.
Fairhaven Public works superintendent Vinnie Furtado said the town was already well stocked with salt and sand before the storm. He said they started out using a mixture of salt and sand on the road but then switched to straight salt as the storm progressed. Salt is more expensive, he said, $2,000 vs. $500 for sand, so they usually us a combination.
They sanded/salted at 1 or 2 a.m. on Saturday, and then started plowing around 6. Mr. Furtado said they had 20 trucks out, more than normal because he knew the snow would be falling at such a fast rate. Almost anyone who could drive a plow was plowing, he said. He also had mechanics and other personnel working throughout the storm.
In a typical storm of 5-8 inches, “we can get by with a couple of passes on all routes,” said Mr. Furtado. “This time, we made multiple passes.”
He also said that some residents believe the plows only went down their roads once.
“That’s not true,” he said, adding that the wind caused drifts that made it look like no truck had plowed. “It was just the conditions we had.”
He sent everyone home after about 24 hours.
“Because they were beat,” he said.
Boston got buried in 23.8 inches of snow, and made a new record for the most snowfall in one day. According to news reports, Stoughton hit the jackpot with 30.9 inches; Sharon, 30.4 inches, Quincy, 30 inches. Thirty nine municipalities in Mass. got 20 inches or more.
The last blizzard the area had was in 2015 when Boston got 24.4 inches over two days; Fairhaven got 19” and wind gusts of 60 MPH; Acushnet saw 22.2; and New Bedford got 21”.
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Click here to download the entire 2/3/22 issue: 02-03-22 Blizzard
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