Storm Stella might have stumbled in its snowfall expectations, but the worries preceding it were loud enough to discourage many area residents from driving Tuesday. So, by this morning there were no injuries reported by local officials as a result of the late winter storm.
Many towns received snowfall totals under a foot: Greenfield, Turners Falls and Sunderland all had 9 inches, while Orange received 12 inches, Deerfield 13.5 inches and Ashfield with the county-high of 18 inches.
Statewide only Lawrence ended up with a blizzard, while other places like Boston and Worcester saw blizzard-like high-wind conditions, just not for a long enough time to qualify in the record books as an official blizzard, according to a National Weather Service meteorologist.
A snow storm must have falling or blowing snow, visibility reduced to a quarter of a mile and sustained winds, gusting to at least 35 mph; these conditions must be sustained for three consecutive hours and corroborated by multiple reports. Lawrence met the conditions for four hours.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation District 2, based out of Northampton and which covers much of western Massachusetts, said it sent out 300 pieces of equipment — ranging from plow trucks to sanding trucks.
Area state police reported a few vehicles that went off road Tuesday, but none resulting in injuries.
By Wednesday morning parking bans in Greenfield and Montague were lifted.
Fire departments in Greenfield and Montague were also quiet. Montague’s department said it didn’t receive any snowstorm-related calls Tuesday.
The northeaster, which came less than a week from the start of spring, was enough to tamp down most normal local activity as businesses, schools, public buses and government offices, including the county courts, were closed for the day or closed early.
Berkshire East ski area had a busy Tuesday and was open with fresh snow today.
The Department of Public Works in Montague reported it used 150 to 200 cubic yards of sand-salt mix for this storm.
Superintendent Tom Bergeron said he had all 16 of his plows out. Some workers pulled a late shift to 2 a.m. A storm like this though is easier for his team, he said, than 1 to 3 inches of snow where there’s a constant need to salt and plow throughout the day.
“Here we just plowed and plowed and plowed until about 1 o’clock this morning and then we sanded and we were done,” Bergeron said.
The Franklin Regional Transit Authority returned to its regular schedule today after suspending service on Tuesday.
And while the snow Tuesday made trash pickup in Greenfield tricky, the Department of Public Works was keeping to its schedule. “We are on our regular schedule for trash and recycling. We did pick up trash and recycling yesterday the best we could, to keep on schedule. Skipping it because of a storm creates more problems than it solves. If we were unable to pick up your trash or recycling we apologize,” The DPW said in a Facebook statement.
You can reach Joshua Solomon at:
jsolomon@recorder.com
413-772-0261, ext. 264