As Storm Sella bore down on Franklin County, the owner of the Brass Buckle announced a maxim of the business that just reopened after a month-long hiatus.
“We’re open every snow day,” JD Hairston said.
He was fixing a sandwich for a customer at the time, having made sure the shop was open bright and early. Many businesses, offices and workplaces around the county seemed shuttered ahead of the blizzard that didn’t really arrive in strength until afternoon.
“People text me when they know a storm is coming and they say ‘Hey, you’re going to be open, right?’ with lots of winky emoticons,” Hairston said.
As forecasts called for anywhere from 1 to 2 feet of snow in the county, Greenfield operated on the strength of mostly locals walking to work.
Greenfield Coffee only had about a dozen customers come through Tuesday morning but regulars and some workers cleaning the streets came in for a cup of joe.
Green Fields Market remained open for the storm. Though working short-staffed, the sidewalks were shovelled and the aisles stacked.
Like the other businesses in the downtown, the co-op expressed a desire to be open for the community.
By mid afternoon, accumulation approached a foot around the county – as the National Weather Service warned that high-wind blizzard conditions would rage through the afternoon, with snow continuing until 8 p.m.
It predicted up to 2 feet of snow in the western hilltowns and as much as 18 inches in the valley.
Through the day the roads were mostly devoid of cars as motorists seemed to heed the advice of state and local officials who urged them to stay off the roads. Police reported no accidents or other snow-related problems as plows began working state and local highways.
The Franklin Regional Transit Authority and the neighboring Pioneer Valley Transit Authority were closed for the day.
Snow storm Stella will bring accumulation of 1 to 3 inches an hour at its peak. Winds will gust up to 45 mph.
At 8 a.m., few cars passed through the center of town, which had quickly turned into a winter landscape again after springlike temperatures a week ago.
The weather service warned about the possibility of “near zero” visibility, with impassible roads, strong winds, tree damage, and scattered power outages, but that had not materialized by mid afternoon.
Across the Franklin County region, public schools, Greenfield Community College and municipal buildings closed.
Locally, in Greenfield, the Highway Department issued a parking ban, and the police department warned via a post on its Facebook page to “please take this storm seriously … a blizzard warning is in effect.”
Eversource wrote an email assuring customers that “our restoration crews are ready to respond to any power outages quickly.” In case of an outage, the email said to “report the outage on your mobile device via Eversource.com or call us at 877-659-6326.”
In the event of emergency situations like a downed wire, Eversource warned to “always remain at least 10 feet away, assume the wire is live, and call 9-1-1 and Eversource immediately. If you use a generator, follow all safety precautions provided by the manufacturer. Gas customers are reminded to keep natural gas meters, all gas appliances and outdoor vents clear of snow and ice buildup to maintain safe operation and access.”
“If you smell a gas odor leave immediately. From a safe place, call the gas utility to report the leak, or call 9-1-1. Remain outside until officials can check the source of the odor.”
As Greenfield public works crews prepared for today’s winter storm, director Donald Ouellette predicted, “This is going to be the worst one, I think.”
That won’t be too hard to accomplish, as so far this winter, Greenfield has not received more than 8 inches from the half-dozen storms of appreciable size.
Snow has struck Greenfield somewhat inconsistently this winter. Snowfall has stayed below 1 inch except for a handful of instances. Feb. 12 saw the most snowfall, with 7.7 inches in Greenfield, although higher accumulations were recorded in the hilltowns to the west. December brought 18.3 inches of total snowfall, with 3.4 inches in January and 20 in February.
Temperatures this winter were also inconsistent, dropping to their coldest in mid-December, dipping as low as 5 below 0. But then in February — the dead of winter — the weather teased Greenfield with temperatures in the 40s early on, and then later in the month, temperatures were recorded at 66, 72 and 67 degrees.
The late winter blizzard may not be driving people to buy snow-fighting gear — quite the opposite, said Suzanne Fleury, the assistant manager of the Aubuchon Hardware store on Federal Street in Greenfield.
“It was starting to warm up. It’s getting on toward springtime anyway, so the seeds are out, the planting stuff is out. And mother nature has other ideas,” she said at a cash register, in front of a row of lawn rakes.
While spring is now less than a week away, this storm will bring the look and feel of winter back, at least for a while.
In Greenfield, Ouellette said the town’s 26 pieces of snow equipment “will be ready and all set to go.”
Greenfield has issued an emergency winter parking ban on all residential streets from 12:01 a.m. Tuesday through 10 a.m. Wednesday. There is no overnight parking in town parking lots, except in designated areas of the Downtown Economy Lot and Hope Street Parking Lot. The town will tow, at the owner’s expense, all violating vehicles. This emergency ban does not include on-street metered and permitted parking.
The forecasted weather has already had an effect on local committee scheduling. The Frontier School Committee meeting/public hearing was rescheduled for 6 p.m. on March 22. The Orange Town Hall and landfill/transfer station will be closed today.
Contributing to this story Dom Poli, Josh Solomon and Andrew Castillo