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[h=4]New England braces for fourth round of heavy snow[/h]The forecast for another round of heavy snow Saturday is disheartening enough for winter-weary Boston and coastal New England, but the latest storm also threatens to deliver life-threatening blizzards.
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Another storm is taking aim at the winter-weary Northeast threatening blizzard conditions and severe cold in parts of New England already buried under six feet of snow. Linda So reports.
Video provided by Reuters Newslook
Women walk their dogs along Revere Beach Feb. 14, 2015, in Revere, Mass.(Photo: Darren McCollester, Getty Images)
MARBLEHEAD, Mass. — As light snow began to fall here Saturday afternoon, residents braced for a fourth round of heavy snow in less than a month across New England, as the latest storm threatened to deliver life-threatening blizzards, hurricane-force winds, whiteouts and widespread power outages.
During a late-afternoon briefing, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker called it "a Cinderella evening" and urged residents going out for Valentine's Day to be off the roads by midnight so that crews can plow and remove snow on Sunday. He said forecasts call for a foot of snow in parts of eastern Massachusetts.
Snow blown about by strong winds "will make driving virtually impossible. Unless you have a really good reason to be out tomorrow, we would urge you all to stay off the roads," he said.
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The Northeast is bracing for yet another blizzard, which looks set to hit parts of New England that are already buried under record-setting snow. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
In this North Shore town about 16 miles northeast of Boston, Fred Brink raced before the storm to dig out his office entrance, which had been buried for two weeks. "At least if I clear this now, then I'll only be dealing with fresh snow after this storm," he said.
A few blocks away, Miles Keroack bought a gas can to fill his new snowblower. He hadn't needed one during his 20 years living in town, but he finally made the purchase after the most recent storm, the third major one in two weeks.
"My wife said, 'That's enough. Time to get one,' " he said, adding that he has never seen so much snow in such a short time. "It took me going to 10 places to find a snowblower, but we finally got one."
The forecast for another round of heavy snow is disheartening enough for winter-weary Boston and coastal New England, but the storm will also usher in another Arctic air mass that will dip southward Sunday, bringing some of the coldest temperatures of year as far south as Florida.
Boston, which has already endured 42 inches of snow this month and three major winter storms, plans to simply hunker down, with the area transit lines shutting down completely Sunday. The city has issued a parking ban starting 10 p.m. Saturday.
In Swampscott, Joe Caponigro called a friend at Ciciotti Construction and asked him swing by Saturday night, preferably with his backhoe loader.
"I couldn't get our cars out of the driveway," Caponigro explained as his friend, Marco Ciciotti, scooped up snowbanks and dropped them on taller ones across the street.
For Ginna Ospina of East Boston, another storm meant it was time again to avoid grocery stores, which she expected to be mobbed and picked over as residents stocked up for potential power outages.
Since the first one hit nearly three weeks ago, Ospina, 37, has tried to avoid driving because she would likely lose her on-street parking spot and have to shovel out a frozen snowbank to create a new space.
Instead of a five-minute drive to work, she now walks an hour, because she has to walk in the street, weaving around giant mounds of snow and dodging vehicles.
"Before it was like, 'Oh, snow is good! We get a little break'," Ospina said. "No. This is just too much. I miss the pavement."
"It's pretty depressing," she said. "Another storm just prolongs this agony."
At Green's Ace Hardware in Marblehead, store manager Justin Turbie said he's been selling out of about 100 shovels every two to three days, and shipments of 50 to 75 roof rakes are usually gone within an hour. "Our customers are saying it's probably the worst it's ever been" in terms of winter weather, he said.
The heavy snow has led to an increase in roof collapses, Gov. Baker said in his briefing.
The prospect of cancelling school meant she'd be hearing more frustration from her 15-year-old son, who's had so many days off that he's missing his friends. When school resumes, she'll worry about him walking in busy streets near school because sidewalks are inaccessible.
For Romeo Merino of East Boston, Sunday's blizzard extends an erratic work season in construction. He'll likely miss work again Monday because it takes him five hours after big storms to dig out his landlord's property and get vehicles freed up. He could make $100 or $200 shoveling on a day off, he said, but then it's back to outdoor construction, which isn't steady work for him in the wake of huge snowfalls.
"I've been missing two days of work per week," Merino said. "I'm shoveling at my house. Then you got to go to work, too. It makes life harder."
Others are taking the next storm in relative stride. Steve Burri, an inspector for the MBTA and a landlord of a triple-decker home in East Boston, was relaxed as he ran his snowblower to the make his driveway wider before the next deluge.
"We're professionals," he said with a smile. "We've got this down to a science. We can handle this."
No one would blame him if he did worry, at least a little. He owns a flat-roofed property that's getting a blizzard on top of more snow in a two-week period than any time in Boston history. But he's not worried, he said, because from his window he can see the tops of similar buildings in the neighborhood. Much of the snow seems to have blown off them, which means his might be fairly clear as well. So he hopes, at least.
After snowblowing Saturday, Burri planned to relax with a glass of wine. Sunday is his day off before another 15-hour shift that begins midnight Sunday night. He's been working 70-hour weeks at the MBTA since the storms began because the T has struggled to keep equipment working in all the snow and cold.
He is concerned, though, to have his son waste no time after the blizzard and shovel off the garage roof. It had four or five feet of snow on it Saturday even before the snow began to fall.
"I'm a little worried about that roof," he said, pointing to the garage. "We already cleaned that off once."
Having faced an especially tough winter, even by Boston standards, Burri is thinking about retiring in a couple of years and moving south.
"Somewhere warm," he said. "Maybe North Carolina."
By late afternoon, 81 Saturday flights destined for Boston Logan airport had been canceled, according to FlightAware.com. For Sunday, 211 departing and 145 arriving flights already have been canceled at Logan and the airport may have to shut down entirely, at least for a period of time.
Throughout the Northeast, hundreds of Saturday flights have been canceled, with nearly 1,000 Sunday flights, including more than 500 inbound and outbound flights at the three major New York metropolitan airports, already canceled in anticipation of the storm, according to FlightAware.com.
"Travel will become nearly impossible and potentially life-threatening due to whiteout conditions and bitterly cold wind chills," the National Weather Service warns. "Conditions will remain dangerous for travel well into Sunday due to blowing and drifting snow."
That is grim news indeed for a region that, in some areas, has staggered under 6 feet or more in recent weeks. The hardest-hit area this weekend will likely stretch along the coast from Cape Cod to Maine, which could get as much as 15 inches of snow. The Boston area could see 8 to 10 inches or more.
Parts of New England could see more than 2 feet of snow from storm.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Accuweather.com)
The storm arrived peacefully enough Saturday afternoon with light snow, but it will build in intensity into Sunday morning as the arctic air triggers winds of up to 75 miles just off the coast.
The storm is part of a ferocious winter system stretching from the Midwest across the northern tier that has already brought up to 8 inches of snow in parts of Michigan.
"The Arctic front will behave like a squall line, but instead of bringing heavy rain, it could bring a brief period of heavy snow with perhaps thunder and lightning," says AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity.
He warned the rolling band of snow could quickly create dangerous driving conditions.
"The squall line of snow and the sudden drop of temperature with strong wind gusts can make wet roads slippery in a matter of a couple of minutes and catch motorists off guard," Margusity said.
The Mid-Atlantic states should miss the brunt of the snow but will likely face strong winds Sunday, particularly in coastal areas. The National Weather Service says the Arctic air mass is expected to send temperatures in the single digits, teens and 20s well into Virginia and North Carolina.
"The strong winds will combine with these frigid temperatures to produce brutal subzero wind chills," the weather service said.
Despite bright sunshine, portions of northern Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia will have high temperatures only in the 30s during the second half of the weekend and into early next week.
"The air will get cold enough in northern Florida to bring the risk of damage to unprotected sensitive fruits and vegetables," said AccuWeather.com senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
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As snow accumulated on Valentine's Day, Gov. Baker had decided to extend the lovers' holiday to provide an economic boost for the region. He declared the week of Feb. 15 "Valentine's Week," encouraging couples and others to support hard-hit local businesses after the blizzard cleanup is done.
Stanglin reported from McLean, Va.
Rick Chestnet, who works for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, records a video on his cellphone as a department truck unloads snow at a "snow farm" in Boston on Feb. 14, 2015.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Michael Dwyer, AP)
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