The largest storm this winter blasted through the Valley and the rest of the state Thursday, dumping more than a foot of snow in some areas and causing numerous accidents and cancellation of bus service. No injuries were reported to emergency personnel.
On a lighter note, Winter Storm Niko also gave adults and children an unexpected day off in the middle of the week to sled, ski and otherwise enjoy some down time at home.
The snowstorm began before most people woke up early Thursday morning. By the time it tapered off in late afternoon, some 16 inches fell in Belchertown, 9 inches in Florence and 10 inces in Amherst, according to the National Weather Service. The storm unleashed as much as 18 inches of snow in the eastern part of the state, where meterologists officially called Niko a blizzard.
“Obviously this is the blockbuster of the season,” Easthampton’s Public Works Director Joe Pipczynski said. “But it’s nothing we haven’t seen before.” As the snow descended Thursday morning, plow crews worked hard to keep up with the rapidly falling flakes. At least the white stuff was light and fluffy, Pipczynski said, making for less heavy-lifting — for both workers and the equipment.
“It’s a classic snowstorm,” he said. “We’ll take this type of snow every day of the week.”
With 22 trucks on the road, Pipczynski said “we’re doing what we can to keep roads open.”
“And when it stops, we’ll clean it all up,” he said.
Luckily for the workers, many would-be drivers heeded calls by state and local officials to steer clear of the roads.
Twice on Thursday, Gov. Charlie Baker held a news conference to provide updates on the storm, repeatedly urging motorists to stay off the roads and imploring others to remain indoors and work from home if possible. More than 3,300 snow-clearing crews were dispatched across the state, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
By 1:30 p.m. Thursday, the inclement conditions led the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority to suspend service across all bus routes. The decision to halt service agency-wide follows a similar one made earlier in the day by University of Massachusetts Transit.
That move came after one of its buses slid across the road on North Pleasant Street near the intersection with Amity Street.
Following that incident, which occurred shortly after 10 a.m., the Amherst Police Department issued a warning for motorists to get off the road, observing that several vehicles, buses and trucks were disabled and blocking travel lanes across town, including on Main Street, North Pleasant Street and West Street near Crocker Farm School.
Amy Rusiecki, assistant superintendent for the Amherst Department of Public Works, said snow-related incidents make it more challenging for the town’s plows to operate. Drivers must detour from their normal loops, which adds to the time it takes to clear roads.
It was not clear as of press time whether PVTA would resume service Friday.
On Interstate 91 South at the 28 mile marker in Hatfield, a tractor trailer truck crashed, blocking the left lane at around 11 a.m.
And in Granby, a rollover accident occurred near the intersection of Amherst Street and Amherst Road (Route 116) around 10:30 a.m. No one was injured in the crash, according to police.
Beyond hazardous road conditions and frigid temperatures, the storm also robbed more than 1 million people, as of 8 p.m., across the state of power, according to outage maps from National Grid and Eversource power companies.
National Grid reported 2,286 customers were affected by power loss, while Eversource reported that 1,148,178 were affected.
The majority of the outages were reported in the eastern part of the state, where, unlike western Massachusetts, blizzard conditions persisted throughout much of the day.
Visibility was low heading into the lunch hour on Thursday, and very few cars were on the roads. Accumulating snow on street corners made turning difficult, ensnaring vehicles and blocking roadways. At the height of the storm, whipping winds pelted snow sideways, deterring people from venturing out.
“Due to the conditions — the weather the way it is — it tends to play havoc on the machinery,” said DPW shop mechanic Mike Antosz while fixing a broken Northampton plow. “This is pretty fierce today. We’ll be here for a while trying to clean it up.”
Antosz said the city’s roughly 65 trucks were having a hard time keeping up with the volume.
“There’s a lot of it all at once,” he said. “By the time you get to the end of the route you’ll be back at it all over again.”
Around 30 snowplows in Belchertown, a mix of town plows and private contractors, first hit the roads when the first flakes started to fall around 6 a.m., according to Steven Williams, director of the town’s Department of Public Works.
In South Hadley, Department of Public Works Superintendent Jim Reidy said Thursday afternoon that about 25 snowplows had been out since around 7:15 a.m.
“We’re keeping up with it,” he said. “We certainly don’t want people out on the roads if they can help it. We’re making progress.”
Officials encouraged property owners in all communities to clear fire hydrants in front of their homes.
Emily Cutts can be reached at ecutts@gazettenet.com.
