Published in the March 4, 2019 edition.
WAKEFIELD — Winter saved its worst for last overnight as a fierce storm system that earlier had paralyzed much of the rest of the Northeast hit Wakefield, dumping at least a foot of wet, heavy snow here and forcing schools to cancel for the day.
At one point early this morning, snow was coming down at a rapid clip, about 2 inches an hour between 3 a.m. and about 6.
By 7:45 a.m. today, there was at least a foot on the ground and the snow continued to fall. DPW crews and private contractors expected to work several hours pushing back snow from both main roads and side streets so when a forecasted cold front settles in tomorrow, not everything is the consistency of rock.
“We don’t want to end up with this stuff freezing in place,” DPW Director Richard Stinson said this morning.
Just before 8 a.m., Stinson said the snow removal force of about 70 pieces of town-owned and private equipment was starting to catch up after spending much of the night trying to keep up with the quickly-falling, heavy snow.
Stinson said that only one piece of equipment went down during overnight cleanup, which he said was impressive given the weight of the snow plow operators had to move around.
Stinson also credited all snow removers with doing an “outstanding job.”
No tree damage was reported, Stinson continued.
Originally this second of two weekend storms was predicted to drop between 5 and 8 inches of snow on the area, but at some point yesterday the forecast ramped up to between 6 and 10 inches.
There were several parking tickets handed out overnight all around town after a winter storm parking ban was put into effect.
At 4:33 a.m. today, a caller told local police that a driver had lost control of his vehicle, which was now facing the wrong direction on Route 128 south. State Police dealt with the situation.
A DPW vehicle and a motor vehicle were involved in an accident on Lowell Street at Magnolia Terrace just before 6 a.m.
At 7:04 a.m. a van went into a building on Crescent Street.
A winter storm warning was posted for much of southern New England as the region braced for another round of snow.
Forecasters expected the storm to begin Sunday evening and continue through the early morning hours on Monday before winding down. Stinson said forecasters got the timing exactly right.
The storm made for some hazardous driving conditions during the morning commute.
A number of school systems including all those around Wakefield announced that schools would closed on Monday, some as early as yesterday afternoon.
