“In October, I thought we were going to get all sorts of snowstorms and ( it) was going to be a good season for plowing, but definitely not. It didn’t turn out quite like I thought it was going to,” said Adam Fowler of Concord. “But today’s a lot of snow, so we’ve gotten a couple of runs in. So it’s a good thing.”
An unusually early October storm dumped close to 2 feet of snow in Concord, but there’s been scant snowfall since. According to preliminary data from the National Weather Service, only 16 inches of snow fell in Concord from November through February, far below average. Thursday’s storm was expected to add more than 10 inches across much of New Hampshire, making it the biggest storm of 2012.
“ I think we’ve done four, maybe five plows this whole season, so there’s not much plow work at all,” said Fowler, whose brother, Ron, owns Bush-Fade Landscaping.
In Maine, the snow began falling in the overnight hours, causing hundreds of schools to cancel classes and businesses to shut down while slowing the morning commute with snowslickened roads.
More than half a foot of snow had fallen across parts of southern Maine by midday, with the National Weather Service calling for accumulations of 5 to 15 inches by the time storm clears out Thursday night into this morning, with the deeper amounts in southern parts of the state.
Snow lovers welcomed the storm following a dry February in which only 1.5 inches of snow fell in Portland. The biggest storm of the year was on Jan. 12, when 8 inches fell.
Many schools in Vermont and most in New Hampshire already were closed this week for winter vacation, and some that had been scheduled to be in session in Vermont shut down because of the storm. Northern Vermont was expected to pick up 3-6 inches by late Thursday night, with 6-12 inches in the central and southern parts of the state.
Tony Vazzano, a meteorologist and owner of North Winds Weather in Center Sandwich, N.H., said he was having a “mellow” day Thursday.
“It’s nice and snowy,” said Vazzano. “There’s no ice anywhere. There’s just a little bit of wind in places.”
Vazzano provides daily, individualized weather reports for 18 major ski areas in northern New England. His said his reports Thursday were well-received.
“They’re loving this,” Vazzano said. “ Unfortunately, there are some rain showers coming in Saturday morning, but that’s the kind of year it’s been.”
The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor
We believe a community must be informed to thrive. bowdoin.edu
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less