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ASHBY, MASS. (WHDH) - Cleanup was underway Wednesday after a nor’easter storm slammed New England Tuesday, leaving some communities in central and western Massachusetts with over 30 inches of snow and knocking out power to thousands.
Where impacts were severe in some high-elevation areas, this week’s nor’easter brought lower snow totals in other spots, leaving only wet roads for much of the day in the Boston metro area and in communities south of Boston.
Towns like Ashby, Hubbardston, and Fitchburg saw inches falling by the hour, each racking up 20-30 inches of snow as plows attempted to tackle loads of heavy, wet snow.
Further west, communities like Rowe, Plainfield, Colrain and Hawley also saw more than 30 inches, according to reports from the National Weather Service. The heavy, wet snow took down trees in some areas.
The snowfall appeared to drop off to the south and to the east, with largely single digit measurements inside I-495.
Temperatures hovering in the mid 30s translated to limited accumulation in Boston and on the South Shore, even with flurries and bursts of heavier snow moving as far south as Bristol County.
The snow gradually lost intensity overnight, dissipating for the most part by early Wednesday morning.
At least 70,000 utility customers across Massachusetts were without power around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, according to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. The number of outages fell steadily through Wednesday, though power was still out to 13,000 customers roughly 24 hours later just after 4 p.m. Wednesday.
In Ashby, where more than 60% of customers were still in the dark, utility company Unitil set up a mobile command post set up outside police headquarters.
“By having this command center here, it allows them to just focus exclusively on Ashby,” Unitil’s Bill White told 7NEWS.
Wind hampered some efforts. Still, crews were going street by street on Wednesday, bringing customers back online.
In nearby Hubbardston, residents were also digging out.
Plow operators, meanwhile, who were busy trying to keep up with the snow on Tuesday, have since pivoted to cleanup efforts.
As snow piles towered over parts of north central Massachusetts Wednesday, some said they were feeling overwhelmed.
“I’ve had enough,” one community member said.
Unitil officials said their command post in Ashby will remain in place until all customers in Ashby are back online.
In an update, the utility said it had restored power to the majority of its New Hampshire customers as of Wednesday afternoon. Officials said they expect the majority of their customers in Massachusetts to have power back by Thursday evening.
Warmer weather is in the forecast later this week, with high temperatures possibly reaching 50 degrees by Saturday.
For more information on what’s ahead, check out the 7WEATHER Blog.
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