Winter Storm Bringing Sloppy and Slippery Conditions to New England

Millions of people in the Northeast, including holiday travelers trying to make their way home, were bracing Sunday for the first significant winter storm of the season — a system that left heavy snow and rain in the wake of its transcontinental path east. The storm started on the West Coast as a “bomb cyclone” in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Travelers who have not already left the region now face a messy commute, with heavy rain, snowfall and blustery winds. The storm, which is expected to linger until Tuesday morning, could bring 6 to 8 inches of snow to Boston, and 7 to 11 inches to areas away from the coasts, the National Weather Service said. Further inland, near Worcester, Massachusetts, between 8 to 12 inches of snow are expected, forecasters said. Toward the northern part of the state, near Fitchburg, Massachusetts, the storm could bring between 12 and 18 inches of snow, the weather service said. Boston is under a winter weather advisory. It will see mixed precipitation of snow, then rain overnight into Monday, then a wintry mix later in the day. The snow is expected to return Monday night into Tuesday, the weather service said. The city began preparing roads with salt at 2 p.m., according to officials. “We’ll have 100 pieces of equipment pre-treating Boston roadways with salt, & will increase those numbers as the storm progresses,” the city posted on Twitter, adding that the Public Works department has “48,000 tons of salt on hand.” A snow emergency has not been declared, and Boston public schools will remain open, the city said. Logan International Airport in Boston, Newark Liberty International Airport, Philadelphia International Airport and Kennedy and La Guardia airports in New York were all reporting delays Sunday — some as long as two hours — as a result of the weather, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The storm brings with it wet, heavy snow that can cause power outages, said Brian Hurley, a meteorologist with the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. He cautioned that people should be aware of weather updates and urged travelers to take it slow as they head to their destinations. “Be mindful about heavier, wetter snow — rather slippery, certainly,” he said. Making its way into the upper Midwest before it comes bearing down on New England, the storm is expected Sunday to bring heavy snow in Minnesota, mainly northwest of the Twin Cities, Hurley said. Michigan, especially the northern part of the state, will also see some precipitation, he said. In Canada, a highway crash near Kingston, Ontario, left one person dead and several injured, according to officials. There were about 30 vehicles, including “numerous” tractor-trailers, involved in the crash, said Curtis Dick, a constable with the Ontario Provincial Police. The crash was related to the storm, Dick said, adding that there was a “significant amount of snowfall” that accumulated over a short period of time. “With those conditions, with the wind blowing and whiteout conditions, there was one collision that occurred, and then several more vehicles piled into that one,” he said. “It was a domino effect.” Travelers stranded behind the crash are now being taken to warming centers, the constable said. Anyone who is concerned about a family member traveling on the highway is encouraged to contact the local Red Cross in the Kingston area. The storm, which formed around the California and Oregon coasts early last week, wreaked havoc on other parts of the country, including the West and the Midwest. In South Dakota, a plane crash Saturday in blizzard-like conditions killed nine people, including two children. In Arizona, snowfall in higher elevations, coupled with rain in the valleys, led to flooding that washed away a vehicle with nine people in as it attempted to cross a flooded creek Friday. Saturday, authorities recovered the bodies of two children who had been swept away from the vehicle. This article originally appeared in The New York Times . ]]>