Published in the December 12, 2016 edition.
WAKEFIELD — When you got up this morning there may have been little left of the 1-2 inches of snow that fell overnight as the precipitation turned to rain early this morning.
DPW Director Richard Stinson said that his crews started pre-treating the roads at about 6 p.m. last night and continued to spread sand and salt at the snow fell. He said that only DPW crews were used and no outside contractors were called in.
Stinson said a couple of small storms are on the long range forecast for the coming week but nothing amounting to more than a few inches.
Wakefield and the surrounding area was lucky.
Snow, freezing rain and rain made for a messy commute and closed hundreds of schools elsewhere Monday as a winter storm pushed eastward.
The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories for parts of the Great Lakes and the Northeast.
Snow fell throughout northern New England, with speeds reduced on snow-packed roads and numerous schools canceled or delayed.
Pats Peak Ski Area in Henniker, N.H. had received 6 to 8 inches of snow by midmorning and spokeswoman Lori Rowell said the ski area that opened Saturday with about half its trails available saw an increase in children who didn’t have school on Monday due to the weather.
”We love it,” Rowell said. “There are lots kids there that took advantage of that opportunity.”
The National Weather Service forecast snow across Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine with up to a foot of snow forecast for parts of southern Vermont. At least several inches were on the ground in parts of the region by Monday morning. Some rain was expected to mix with the snow in southern New Hampshire.
Parts of Portland had received about 4 inches of snow. But that wasn’t enough to close down the Portland Fish Exchange, an auction house that was prepping for the arrival of dayboat scallops later Monday.
”We’ve got a crew in here doing snow removal and repairs and whatnot,” said auction house general manager Bert Jongerden. “It’s pretty rare that we happen to close here. This is just a little bit of nuisance snow, really.”
Temperatures 15 to 30 degrees below average will follow the cold rain and snow in the coming days through much of the Midwest and East.
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Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack in Concord, N.H. and Patrick Whittle in Portland, Maine contributed to this report.
