Northeast US weathers effects of winter storm

Parts of New England and New York were emerging from a storm on the Northeast coast Wednesday that knocked out power for thousands of commuters and caused school cancellations and snow conditions on roads.

The storm began Monday night and lasted through Tuesday, dumping up to 3 feet (91 centimeters) of snow and strong gusty winds. Elsewhere, just a few centimeters (inches) or a combination of sleet fell.

Some of the highest figures reached 35 inches (89 centimeters) of snow in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and in Ashby, Massachusetts, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) away, the National Weather Service said.

Parts of upstate New York and the Catskill Mountains saw at least 2 feet (60 centimeters) of snow, while about 31 inches (79 centimeters) fell on Indian Lake in New York’s Adirondack Mountains.

“It just snowed and snowed and snowed,” said Geoff Settles, a factory supervisor and Peterborough resident. “My wife and I were helping some of the neighbors shovel snow. We literally had to shovel five and six times to keep the buildup from getting up to our chests.”

Settles, who grew up in Leominster, Massachusetts, recalled the blizzards in his hometown in the late 1970s. “I would say I’ve never seen this much snow in my entire life,” he said Wednesday.

In Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where the snow reached at least 18 inches (45 centimeters), Michael Garvey used his snowblower to clear his sidewalk and help a neighbor clear his driveway.

“I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve seen some snowfall in April, so it doesn’t surprise me,” said Garvey, 71. “A couple of weeks ago we were fooled with temperatures close to 10 degrees Celsius (about 50 degrees Fahrenheit), but we went back to winter.”

Some 67,000 customers in the region were still without power on Wednesday night, according to the specialized portal PowerOutage.us.

“We continue to anticipate that this will be a multi-day effort to restore service,” Unitil spokesman Alec O’Meara said.

Crews from New York and Pennsylvania arrived to help restore power to parts of Massachusetts and help assess damage from downed trees and power lines.

In a dramatic overnight rescue, a search team located two climbers stranded in the snow in Massachusetts’ Mount Washington State Forest.

The men, ages 47 and 53, expected to reach a cabin but called 911 on Tuesday night and said they could no longer see the trail markings.

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