The remnants of the severe winter storm that overwhelmed New England with heavy snow and hurricane-force gusts lingered Sunday in Canada, leaving a trail of power outages in the coastal areas of Massachusetts.
Damage didn’t appear to be extensive for a storm of such magnitude because people were mostly off the roads during the height of the storm on Saturday. The snow was light and fluffy, which limited damage to power lines and trees.
Tens of thousands of people were still without power in coastal Massachusetts areas including Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, where heavy snow, hurricane-force wind gusts and flooding caused the most damage. There were 31,300 power outages in the state on Sunday afternoon, down from a peak of 120,000 on Saturday, according to poweroutage.us. The restoration of power was slowed by high winds.
“It may be that a lot of the [power] restoration timelines won’t start until the wind dies down, which could be tomorrow morning,” said
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker.
There were nearly 7,800 outages in Florida early afternoon on Sunday, where during the weekend the central part of the state experienced some of the coldest weather in years. Florida outages were down to about 2,500 by late afternoon.
The winter storm that left large parts of Massachusetts without power was similar to a snowstorm in February 2015, said a National Weather Service meteorologist. In 2015, 31 inches of snow were recorded in Rockland, Mass., south of Boston, and this year, the same amount was recorded in Stoughton, Mass., about 12 miles away. Boston had a snowfall record of 23.6 inches, which tied with a record in February 2003, he said.
“This will be one that people will remember,” he added. “It is not unprecedented but people will remember this one.”
The timing of the storm—during a weekend—helped avert a worse outcome, said Jim Cantore, a meteorologist for the Weather Channel, who covered the storm in Boston.
“This is not the worst I’ve ever seen, but it is close,” Mr. Cantore said. “Timing on this storm avoided the crippling of a city.”
A snow-covered street in Boston on Sunday.
Photo:
Allison Dinner/Bloomberg News
Elsewhere in New England, moderate winds were expected to persist in Maine until Sunday afternoon, with some light snow expected in the morning, according to the National Weather Service.
On Sunday morning, some Amtrak service was still suspended, including routes between Boston and New York, and stretching north to Maine and south to Charlotte, N.C.
On Saturday, snow fell at a rate of 1 to 3 inches an hour along much of the East Coast, according to the National Weather Service, with accumulations of 21 inches seen near the Jersey Shore and 24 inches near Boston. A gust of 82 miles an hour was registered on Cape Cod.
The snow dropped by the storm blew easily in high wind and reduced visibility, creating problems for motorists. On Cape Cod, the temperature was a little warmer, so the snow is heavier there, said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service.
“Lighter snow means less impact on trees; less impact on trees means less impact on utilities,” said Connecticut Gov.
Ned Lamont,
who called the storm a “wicked New England” one.
The town of Yorktown, N.Y., 30 miles north of New York City, postponed distribution of 1,000 at-home Covid-19 tests and drive-through testing that had been planned at a local park, after about 7 inches of snow fell Saturday.
Workers plowed snow in New York City on Sunday.
Photo:
Jeenah Moon/Getty Images
Write to Steven Rosenbush at steven.rosenbush@wsj.com, Ann-Marie Alcántara at ann-marie.alcantara@wsj.com and Kim S. Nash at kim.nash@wsj.com
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