While snow covered the East Coast from North Carolina to Maine and blizzard conditions were reached in several communities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the city and surrounding North Shore communities made out of this weekend’s snowstorm largely unscathed.
The Jan. 28-29 nor’easter brought strong winds and lots of snow, hitting coastal, eatsern and southeastern Massachusetts communities particularly hard. Light snow began late at night on Friday, with snowfall totals amounting to 1 to 2 feet across the region, according to the National Weather Service.
Wind gusts reached hurricane force on Cape Ann, Cape Cod and Nantucket. As of Sunday morning, almost 54,000 customers experienced power outages, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.
Conditions reached the definition of a blizzard at several locations across Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts on Saturday, including Boston, Worcester, Beverly, Hyannis, Martha’s Vineyard, Providence and Newport, the National Weather Service reported. Falling snow and blowing winds, that gusted to 35 miles per hour and more, reduced visibility below a quarter of a mile in these locations for more than three consecutive hours.
Stoughton had the highest snow total across all of the affected states from North Carolina to Maine at 30.9 inches. Boston tied the record for the biggest one-day snowfall on Jan. 29 at 23.6 inches. The same totals were recorded in 2003 and in 1892. The storm total was actually 23.8 inches in Boston but 0.2 inches fell on Jan. 28., according to the National Weather Service division for the area.
“It was a historically huge storm in a really short amount of time. I am very grateful for the work the team at the DPW (Department of Public Works) has done. Everybody was out there clearing out snow for us,” said Lynn Mayor Jared Nicholson. “I think we made out well, all things considered.”
Nicolson also thanked the residents for clearing out snow, moving their cars and helping neighbors out.
Saturday was pretty quiet for the Lynn Fire Department, with no significant car accidents, said District Chief Joseph Zukas.
“We put an extra ambulance in service and put an extra firefighter on every fire truck in the city (for the storm),” Zukas said.
A small kitchen fire happened in an apartment building on Whiting Street around 11 a.m. on Saturday in the middle of the storm, displacing a family of five. The fire happened on the second floor but did not affect any other apartments in the building, Zukas said.
A neighbor who was snow blowing outside noticed the smoke and helped extinguish the fire before the firefighters arrived on scene.
In Lynnfield, the DPW worked for about 30 hours straight through the storm, said John Tomasz, director of the department.
“It dragged off for a while longer than we had hoped,” said Tomasz on Sunday afternoon. “But we are in good shape, ready for school tomorrow.”
Tomasz said there were no accidents and no one got injured during the storm in Lynnfield.
Marblehead totaled 20 inches of snow. The town’s police urged the residents to use common sense when parking their cars in hard-to-pass places, leaving enough room for emergency vehicles to go by. Temporary No Parking signs were posted in some places.
Nahant Police Department commended Nahant DPW for their preparation and diligence during the storm.
“Their hard work before, during and even now has the town in great shape,” said the department in a Facebook post on Sunday night.
Massachusetts Army National Guard were also on stand-by with their heavy transport equipment in case of any major flooding issues during the storm, the police department said.
Peabody received 19 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service report, but it did not cause any emergencies for the fire department, said Fire Chief Joe Daly.
“We did nothing out of the ordinary. We were fortunate that the snow was light and didn’t take down any land- or powerlines,” Daly said. “As a city, as a whole, we did real good.”
The DPW in Saugus measured approximately 23 inches of snow with winds making some roads several feet higher, said Town Administrator Scott Crabtree. The department started salting the roads at 11 p.m. on Friday, while some snow plows began to work before 5 a.m. on Saturday and until 3 a.m. on Sunday.
Sidewalks around the town hall and around schools were cleared by Sunday evening, and the DPW continued to remove snow from the schools grounds until late Sunday night. The department expected to work on more sidewalks and other areas in the town on Monday.
Swampscott DPW was out in full force during the storm, including 13 members of the department and 16 contractors, said Director Gino Cresta. The town totaled 26.2 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service.
The department was out clearing the snow from 4 a.m. on Saturday until 12 a.m. on Sunday, Cresta said.
“And now we are back out today,” said Cresta on Sunday afternoon. “For the next week or so we will be hauling snow away from the dangerous intersections, schools, and deadends.”
The snow will be moved to a “snow farm” at the rear of Phillips Park off Humphrey Street.
The nor’easter didn’t cause any emergencies in Swampscott, Cresta said. There were no fallen trees or splashovers from the high tide for the DPW to deal with.
Swampscott Fire Chief Graham Archer said that he had extra staff on duty on Saturday but because of the prompt work of the DPW there were no motor vehicle accidents.
“Today we are going out shoveling fire hydrants and checking things out,” said Archer on Sunday. “I think we made it through this one pretty much unscathed.”
Alena Kuzub can be reached at [email protected].