More than 5 new inches of snow fell on Boston by Thursday morning, putting a fresh coat on the leavings of last weekend’s blizzard and making January the city’s snowiest on record.
Schools canceled classes yet again, and Gov. Mitt Romney asked President Bush to declare a federal emergency in the eastern half of the state, which would make the area eligible for extra aid.
Boston Mayor Tom Menino said the city's entire winter’s snow-clearing budget of $7 million already has been used up.
The 5.4 inches of new snow recorded at Logan Airport before the storm let up Thursday morning came only days after the blizzard that dumped more than 3 feet of snow.
It brought the airport’s January total to 43.1 inches of snow, more than in any month since the National Weather Service began keeping records for the city in 1892. The previous record of 41.6 inches was set in February 2003.
Forty miles west, Worcester set a new January record, with 51 total inches, topping the previous record of 46.8 inches in 1987. That city’s snowiest month ever came in February 1893, when 55 inches fell.
Schools reopen only to close
Boston’s public school students had only one day of class this week. After canceling classes Monday and Tuesday, the superintendent opened schools Wednesday, prompting complaints from parents who thought the snow-clogged streets and sidewalks were still too dangerous for children. Classes were canceled for the rest of the week, and other districts made the same decision.
“I was convinced it was safe,” Boston Superintendent Thomas Payzant said. “I’ve been doing this for a lot of years. ... I take the hit when I guess wrong.”
In western Massachusetts, 55-year-old Maurice DuBois made extra money by shoveling the sidewalk in front of some Main Street businesses in Northampton.
“This is just another winter to me,” said DuBois, a New England native who also lived in Alaska. “But the older you get, the more you dislike it. It’s hard on the body.”
There's always pizza
Not all have suffered. Mark Montplaisir, manager of diMio pizzeria in Boston, where many residents still had not dug out their cars from the blizzard, said his shop has been making 30 to 45 deliveries a day, up from the usual 20.
“You can’t blame ’em,” he said. “Who wants to go out when you can get someone to deliver?”