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January 14, 2008

Update: Snow wanes after heavy, slushy start / Photo

Journal photo / Bob Thayer
Nelson Bravo Jr., 4, of Woonsocket, enjoys the winter wonderland that is Cold Spring Park in Woonsocket after today's snowstorm. Snowfall totals were higher in the northern part of the state.

A winter storm dropped wet, heavy snow through much of the area today, closing almost all schools, sparking some power outages, and slowing travel. But the disruptions appeared to be mild, compared to the storm that stalled the state last month.

By late morning, the snowfall had waned. Though it may keep falling through early afternoon, no more significant accumulation is expected.

Snow accumulation totals ranged from about 2 inches at T. F. Green Airport in Warwick to more than 5 inches farther inland and less towards the southern coast.

“I’m certainly not going to characterize this as a blockbuster storm or anything,” Charles Foley, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass., said.

In what may have been an abundance of caution following the storm that left some students stranded on buses for hours, all school systems in the state cancelled classes today except one -- on Block Island.

The snow slowed travel throughout the region earlier this morning. Traffic was backed up on Route 146 North in Lincoln near the Wilbur Road overpass due to an accident during the rush-hour snowstorm this morning.

As of early this afternoon, the state police were reporting seven accidents and 45 disabled motor vehicles that they’d handled during the storm – significantly fewer than the nearly 200 the state police had handled during the Dec. 13 storm.

Across the state, north winds were mild, but heavy, slushy sleet was weighing down power lines, causing disruptions to thousands of homes.

About 1,700 National Grid customers remained without power in Rhode Island late this afternoon from the overnight snowstorm, compared to about 10,500 who were without power this morning, a National Grid spokesman said.

Some 475 customers were without power in Glocester, 435 in Foster, about 300 in Scituate and the rest scattered in other communities, said spokesman David Graves.

Graves said that there were a lot of individual outages, which can be labor intensive. He said there may be some customers who will be without power through the night but that the company expects the majority of customers' power will be on this evening.

The hardest hit cities and towns were Cumberland, Burrillville, Lincoln, Smithfield and Johnston.

And as staff trickled into The Journal office in Providence, several reported more than 5 inches in their cities and towns. But accumulations were less near the southern coast, with 1 to 2 inches on the ground in Wakefield.

More than a dozen arriving and departing flights were canceled at T. F. Green Airport. Check the latest flight information on the airport's Web site

About 100 flights scheduled to arrive of depart Logan International Airport in Boston were canceled or delayed. Check current flight status on Logan's Web site.

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson, with reports from Journal staff writers Amanda Milkovits, Gene Emery, Meaghan Wims, and Mark Arsenault.

Posted by Brandie Jefferson  at 5:00 PM | Permalink

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