NEW YORK (AP) – Light snow fell over parts of the Northeast on Wednesday as people navigated to work and school after a massive storm on Feb. 23 that dropped piles of powder on streets and sidewalks from Maryland to Maine.
Much less snow is expected than the “Blizzard of ’26,” but whatever melted likely froze again overnight, resulting in patchy black ice to make for some slippery roads, the National Weather Service said. As temperatures rose by mid-morning in some places, much of that became a slushy mess.
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Power had returned for many of the hundreds of thousands who had lost electricity in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware and Rhode Island. But nearly 160,000 customers in Massachusetts were still without power early Wednesday.
As of 1:15 p.m. Wednesday, 1,774 Rhode Island Energy customers were still without power after peaking to 50,000 during the heart of the storm on Feb. 23. The company said in a press release 99% of power has been restored.
Monday’s storm blanketed the region with snow, canceled flights, disrupted transit and downed power lines. More than 3 feet fell in Rhode Island — surpassing snow totals from the historic Blizzard of 1978 that struck the Northeast, the weather service said.
Cities are working overtime to clear the towering heaps of snow. In Providence, the city is taking snow to five locations, according to Josh Estrella, communications director for the city government. The challenge is so great that additional dumping grounds may be added, Estrella said.
Gov. Daniel J. McKee has deployed the National Guard to assist in Providence’s snow removal efforts, WPRI-TV CBS 12 reported Wednesday. Estrella told the WPRI the city has more than 70 city trucks and about 30 private contractors were working to clear roads. He added the city seeks to hire another additional contractors by the end of the day.
Tina Guenette, who uses a motorized wheelchair, had to shovel out her yard this week after more than 33 inches fell in the Harrisville village in Burrillville.
“I really have no choice if my service dog wants to go outside,” Guenette said. Harrisville’s volunteer snow-shoveling program hasn’t had volunteers for years, she said.
Thousands of flights in and out of the U.S. have been canceled in recent days. By Wednesday, the disruptions seemed to be subsiding, with nearly 200 grounded, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport in Warwick reopened Tuesday at 3 p.m. Some flights departed Wednesday, while others were canceled.
Some large school districts moved back to in-person classes on Wednesday, including Philadelphia, which had switched to online learning during the first two days of the week. Schools reopened in Boston. They had been closed since last week for the winter vacation break. But in hardest-hit Rhode Island, Providence schools were closed for a third snow day and announced the district will have “virtual learning” for the rest of the week.
In New York City, it’s another regular school day for more than 900,000 students in the nation’s largest public school system, but many students and their caregivers had to scramble over mountainous snow banks and dodge salt spreaders during the morning drop-off.
(UPDATE: Adds Providence schools will have virtual learning the rest of the week in 11th paragraph.)
PBN staff contributed to this report.
