HAVERHILL, MASS. (WHDH) - Some in New England were busy digging out Thursday after this week’s messy batch of winter weather dropped several inches of snow.
Where snow accumulation was lower further south, Essex County in Massachusetts saw some of the state’s highest observed totals, according to unofficial measurements from the National Weather Service. One such measurement clocked 5.8 inches of snow in Haverhill at 7 a.m. Thursday. Two separate measurements in Newburyport at 7 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. also recorded 5.8 inches.
In a winter that has been more mild than many in terms of major snow events, at least one Topsfield teenager said she would prefer to have seen this snow fall outside of school vacation week.
“I was hoping we’d get a snow day out of it but, you know, it’s one of those things on vacation,” Abby Brady told 7NEWS.
Topsfield saw a measurement of five inches of snow at 12 p.m.
Contending with a winter wallop, Brady’s mom said she needed the extra hands.
Elsewhere, for snow plows, having fewer drivers on roads this week and no school buses to worry about has made the process of clearing the flakes easier.
Area crews pretreated roads with salt and removed slush as snow, sleet and rain moved in Wednesday night. Officials later said they would be back at it Thursday night.
“It’s going to get cold out and we don’t want anything to freeze to the ground,” Andrews Pinard of Topsfield Public Works said.
Snow had blanketed area communities as of Thursday afternoon, covering mailboxes, encasing cars, wrapping roofs and coating railings.
Temperatures are now forecast to fall heading into the weekend, with single digit low temperatures forecast in some areas on Saturday.
Still, area residents are taking recent winter weather in stride as some memories of New England’s more infamous snow events remain fresh.
“The heaviest snow I ever shoveled was the Blizzard of 78,” one man said. “It took me and my dad three days to get to the driveway.”
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