Published in the February 2, 2021 edition.
WAKEFIELD — A slow-moving, powerful winter nor’easter left behind a wet, heavy, slushy mess in Wakefield today, causing school buildings and Town Hall to shutter, delaying trash pickup, requiring a parking ban on town streets and necessitating a lot of patience on everyone’s part.
The back-breaking effort needed just to move the water-logged snow around was enough of a concern. On top of that, temperatures are expected to drop as the day goes on, freezing what hasn’t been removed.
To that end, DPW Director Joseph Conway said that crews were busy today scraping down the secondary streets in an effort to minimize any refreezing
The town’s battle with the storm began yesterday at around 11 a.m., when town trucks went out to pretreat the roadways. The storm was slower to develop than expected, so the DPW’s plowing operation didn’t begin until about 5 p.m., Conway said. Contractors were called in to assist at about 6 p.m. and worked until about 4 a.m. this morning, when the contractors were released.
Once the storm switched over to rain today, town trucks continued to scrape down streets curb-to-curb in an effort to make sure that storm drains were clear and prevent flooding and refreezing.
Conway said that about 9 inches of heavy, wet snow were measured at DPW headquarters, although it may have looked like less packed under its own weight.
Between town equipment and contractors, about 70 trucks were used to battle the storm.
Trash normally picked up on Tuesdays will be collected tomorrow. The trash pickup schedule for the rest of the week will also be pushed back a day.
Supt. of Schools Doug Lyons and his administrative team decided before noon yesterday that the might of the on-coming nor’easter was predicted to be powerful enough to alter yesterday afternoon’s hybrid schedule and to close schools today. However, Lyons made clear in a message to the school community that remote learning would take place today at all levels, including the Early Childhood Center at the Doyle School.
The town also posted a message reminding residents that the parking ban beginning at 5 p.m. Monday would go until at least 5 this afternoon. All vehicles had to be off roadways to allow plowing crews and public safety venhicles to safely access streets and perform curb-to-curb cleanup.
“If your residence does not have a driveway,” the town’s post read, “you are encouraged to connect with your landlord for parking options or coordinate with a neighbor who has extra driveway space.”
Parts of New England were waiting their turn to be pummeled by a heavy winter storm Tuesday, as a lot of people dug out from under piles of snow that shut down public transport, canceled flights and closed coronavirus vaccination sites.
The National Weather Service said a foot or more could be on the ground in New England by the time the snow finally tapers off in the northernmost states by Wednesday evening.
Lara Pagano, a meteorologist with the weather service office in College Park, Maryland, noted that while several areas in the Mid-Atlantic have seen measurable snowfall for a few consecutive days, that hasn’t shattered such records. For example, she said the most consecutive days with measured snowfall for Washington is four, while the mark is five for New York City and six for Philadelphia.
“While this storm has been a prolonged event, it’s not a record-setter in that sense, but it does rank up there pretty high of course,” she said.
The sprawling, lumbering storm already walloped the eastern United States on Monday, as the as snow piled up. More than 16 inches of snow dropped on Manhattan’s Central Park, and as much as 30 inches was reported in northern New Jersey.
High tide caused flooding early Tuesday in coastal areas of Massachusetts, where the storm had already disrupted the second phase of the state’s vaccine rollout as a Boston site that was supposed to open Monday for residents ages 75 and older did not; some other mass vaccination sites remained open. Inland the snow totals were much higher than in Wakefield and in communities along the coast, which saw more rain than snow. Winds howled up to 55 mph along the coast, according to Gov. Charlie Baker.