NORTHAMPTON — The third powerful nor’easter in two weeks slammed the Northeast on Tuesday, bringing blizzard conditions and more than a foot of snow to some communities and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses.
High winds and blowing snow led meteorologists to categorize the storm as a blizzard in parts of New England, including Boston. By afternoon, power outages climbed to more than 250,000 in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.
In western Massachusetts, snowfall totals varied greatly from town to town. While the I-91 corridor was largely spared the brunt of the storm, those living in the hilltowns saw snowfall totals reach a foot and above.
There was 18 inches of snow in Goshen as of 6:50 p.m., whereas in Amherst barely 4 inches had fallen by late afternoon, according to unofficial observations compiled by the National Weather Service.
In Plainfield, around a foot of snow kept the town’s plows running all day, according to Assistant Fire Chief David Alvord.
“It’s an amazing difference just coming up Route 9 from Williamsburg to Goshen,” Alvord said early Tuesday evening.
“There’s a lot of snow out there,” Judi Morin said from the Goshen General Store. Morin said she heard of measurements edging closer to 20 inches near George Propane on Berkshire Trail, but said the snow didn’t worry her too much.
“I’ll make it home,” she said. “I’ve got all-wheel and studs.”
That snowfall was a stark contrast to Easthampton, where local weather spotter Sally Peters said on Twitter that she measured only 3 inches of snow Tuesday evening.
The storm was expected to last through most of Tuesday, with light snow continuing in some areas overnight and into Wednesday.
The snowy conditions did disrupt road and air travel. The flight-tracking site FlightAware reported 133 canceled flights out of Bradley International Airport on Tuesday, and speed restrictions were in place for much of the day on the Massachusetts Turnpike.
On I-91, a tractor-trailer jackknifed going north just after 9 a.m. near the Deerfield-Whately town line, closing down the northbound lanes north of Exit 24, state police reported.
In parts of western Massachusetts, though, some municipalities that were less affected began returning to normal by Tuesday evening or earlier, lifting parking bans and reopening roads. Whereas school districts were closed on Tuesday, there were no reported closures for Wednesday.
The eastern and central parts of the state were hit the hardest, with far more than a foot of snow measured in parts of Worcester and Middlesex counties, as well as in parts of New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
In New Hampshire, the National Weather Service said 25 inches of snow was reported Tuesday evening near Derry.
Franklin, Massachusetts, received 23 inches, East Killingly, Connecticut, 20 inches, and Kezar Falls, Maine, 20 inches.
Boston’s usually packed subway trains were nearly empty as many workers stayed home and schools closed. Amtrak suspended all service Tuesday between Boston and New York City. Gov. Charlie Baker announced a delayed start time on Wednesday for non-emergency state executive branch employees.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Dusty Christensen can be reached at dchristensen@gazettenet.com.