Storm pounds Mass.
NEW YORK — A storm packing blizzard conditions spun up the East Coast early today, pounding coastal eastern Long Island into Maine with high winds and heavy snow, but it failed to live up to the hype in big cities like Philadelphia and New York, which canceled its travel ban amid better-than-expected weather conditions.
Massachusetts was pounded by snow and lashed by strong winds early Tuesday as bands of heavy snow left some towns including Sandwich on Cape Cod and Oxford in central Massachusetts reporting more than 18 inches of snow. Total accumulation was expected to reach or exceed two feet in most of Massachusetts, potentially making it one of the top snowstorms of all time. The National Weather Service says a wind gust of 78 mph was reported on Nantucket, and a 72 mph gust was reported in Aquinnah on Martha’s Vineyard.
Coastal residents braced for a powerful storm surge and the possibility of damaging flooding and beach erosion, particularly on Cape Cod.
“So far, so good,” Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said at a morning briefing at the state’s emergency management bunker in Framingham. He said colder than expected weather produced light and fluffy snow, which may be helping in keeping the overall number of power outages down.
Maine and New Hampshire each declared a state of emergency, and government offices in both states were closed today.
Police say a 17-year-old boy snow-tubing down a New York street with friends crashed into a light pole and died. Suffolk County police say it happened around 10 p.m. Monday in Huntington on Long Island. Police say he apparently lost control of the tube and struck a light pole.
Sections of New York were forecast to see from 10 to 20 inches of snow, and a 60-mile stretch of the New York Thruway was reopened after being shut down for about nine hours.
