Temperatures in Worcester dipped down below zero on Monday, creating travel troubles for many motorists.
Among them was Nana Gyawu, who was unable to get to work when his car battery died.
“My batteries were dead,” Gyawu said. “The cold weather is the biggest thing. The temperature is very low.”
With the mixture of frigid cold and rain overnight, the snow is now covered in a thick layer of ice.
“It’s just too hard,” Michael Pena, another Worcester resident, said as he attempted to shovel.
Many snow removal contractors are using ice picks with their shovels to clear sidewalks and roadways. The city’s public works department says it’s taking twice or three times as long as usual to see pavement.
“It’s dropping the plow, salting, letting the sun beat it up. The traffic, the heat from the cars also helps to break some of that bond to the pavement,” Shane Mark, a Newton Public Works employee, said. “Once it starts to slush, it’s putting that plow down, scraping, and doing it all over again.”
The ice is impacting travel at Logan Airport, as well. More than 200 flights are canceled and there are more than 400 delays.
Morgan Gage got a text telling her that her airplane wasn’t taking off and she was being rebooked hours later in hopes of getting back to her college.
“I’m hoping I can get out on time and I can get back to my dorm and get ready for class tomorrow,” Gage said.
Massport says it is operating at 75 percent today and constantly sanding and scraping the runways.
“We had freezing rain at 26 degrees yesterday,” Massport Director Ed Freni said. “Trying to keep up with that is much more difficult than 10 inches of snow.”
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