Latest ‘biblical’ snowstorm slams New England

BOSTON — A storm brought a new round of wind-whipped snow to New England on Sunday, accompanied by near-whiteout conditions and lightning strikes in coastal areas as people contended with a fourth winter onslaught in less than a month.

A blizzard warning was in effect for coastal communities from Rhode Island to Maine, with no reprieve in sight: A bone-chilling blast of cold, with lows of minus-10 degrees was in the Sunday night forecast in parts of the region.

Frank Libby, who was out trying to find newspapers in Boston Sunday morning, said it seems every few days the city is getting slammed with another foot of snow.

“It’s historic. It’s biblical,” the 62-year-old attorney said as he walked down a deserted street in the city’s Back Bay neighborhood. “I think we’re in uncharted territory. People just don’t know how to deal with the logistics of it.”

He had one message for Mother Nature: “Give us a break.”

A foot of snow had fallen across much of eastern Massachusetts by Sunday morning, with Ipswich and Salisbury recording 20 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Before it is all over, coastal areas of New Hampshire and southern Maine could see up to 2 feet, weather forecasters said.

As the storm lashed the coastline of Cape Cod Bay with heavy surf and nearly a foot of fresh snow, Red Cross volunteer Marc Lieber was riding it out at home in Sagamore Beach. He was on standby, but even if called, he said he probably would not be able to deploy.

“I can’t get out of my driveway,” Lieber said. “The earlier snow hasn’t gone away, and now this.”

Gov. Charlie Baker in Massachusetts said Sunday morning that high tide was not as severe as anticipated, with no reports of major flooding, but warned that winds gusting over 60 mph could bring power outages.

“There’s a little bit of deja vu all over again in this,” he said.

One house of worship, the Union United Methodist Church in Boston, canceled Sunday services and instead was holding a prayer call via telephone.

Transportation officials in the region had taken precautions. Nearly 400 Sunday flights were canceled at Boston’s Logan International Airport, including all morning flights. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority canceled all rail, bus and ferry service in the Boston area on Sunday.

William Babcock, a weather service meteorologist, said gusts could max out at 75 mph — hurricane territory — on Cape Cod.

On Cape Ann north of Boston, Patrick McGehee said he was grateful is power did not go out, especially after witnessing the storm’s strength when he took his dog outside Sunday morning. At one point the sky lit up with lighting strikes.

“I wasn’t sure what was going on, if it was some kind of spiritual event or what. The whole sky lit up like somebody lit up a lightbulb,” said McGehee, the owner of the Mary’s by the Sea summer rental business in Rockport. “My God, this is pretty interesting.”

Ahead of the storm, forces gathered to remove piles of snow and ready for the next round. More than 6 feet of snow was already standing in some areas near Boston from previous storms.

Massachusetts called up hundreds of National Guard troops to assist with snow removal, and the Hanscom Air Force base outside Boston became a staging area for heavy equipment pouring in from eight other Northeast states to help in the effort.

Crews worked in Boston’s Financial District to remove the massive amounts of snow that clogged streets and triggered numerous roof collapses.

The bad weather spanned several states — winter storm warnings extended west into Michigan and Ohio, where whiteout conditions led to a pileup on the Ohio Turnpike that killed at least two people. Another storm-related crash on the New York Thruway south of Buffalo killed one person.

In Maine, powerful gusts of winds reduced visibility up and down the coast.

“The wind is blowing hard. It’s hard to know if it’s snowing or not because there’s so much snow blowing through the air,” said Suzannah Gale, co-owner of the Home Port Inn, in the town of Lubec, at the state’s easternmost tip. “It’s piled up around the windows. It’s just piled up everywhere.”