A fierce snowstorm raced across northern New England on Monday after burying parts of Massachusetts, dumping as much as 20 inches of snow in some places and forcing classes to be canceled at hundreds of schools.
After the snowiest December on record in some parts of the region, and then a spell of spring-like warmth, meteorologists said between a foot and 20 inches fell in southern Maine. Roughly a foot fell in southern New Hampshire and areas west and north of Boston.
A woman was killed and her child injured in a wreck on a snow-covered highway in Maine, authorities said. A man was killed when his vehicle crashed on a Vermont highway, but police did not say if it was weather-related.
In New Hampshire, the southern and central parts of the state took the brunt of a storm as snowfall outpaced the state's fleet of plow trucks.
Maine got pounded with some of the heaviest snowfall of the season: 20 inches in Gardiner, 16 inches in Denmark and 14 inches in Auburn, said Tom Berman of the National Weather Service in Gray.
‘A fast-moving storm’
New Hampshire had similar amounts, ranging from 10 inches in Rochester to 13 inches in Wolfeboro.
Pine Plains, N.Y., near the Connecticut state line, reported 7 inches, and Burlington, Conn., had 6.5 inches. The Boston area had about 7.
"The story is it's a fast-moving storm," said Bill Boynton, spokesman for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation.
Kaj Munic was up at 4:30 a.m. plowing the heavy, wet snow off driveways in Columbia, Conn.
"You have to hit most places at least twice," said Munic, a 59-year-old contractor.
Hundreds of public and private schools canceled classes for the day across New England and in parts of eastern New York.
School officials were taking no chances, especially after a Dec. 13 storm in which many youngsters in Providence, R.I., were stuck on buses for hours. That storm caused monumental traffic jams around Boston.
The New Hampshire Legislature canceled all events. Flights were canceled at airports including Boston's Logan International and Maine's Portland International Jetport.
Utilities reported scattered power failures, including a peak of more than 36,000 homes and businesses blacked out in Connecticut, said Mitch Gross, a spokesman for Connecticut Light and Power.
More than 9,000 lost power in Massachusetts, and Rhode Island had more than 11,000.
So far this winter, Concord, N.H., has gotten 54 inches of snow, nearly 44 inches has fallen at Portland, Maine, and Bangor, Maine, has totaled 49 inches.