'I'M JUST GOING TO ROLL WITH IT'
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| Celestino Diaz of Worcester carries two shovels as he walks up Chandler Street in Worcester on Monday, with a car stuck in the background and snow close to white-out conditions. (T&G Staff/CHRISTINE PETERSON) |
george.barnes@telegram.com
WORCESTER — With two big storms in two weeks, and groundhogs claiming six more weeks of winter, Central Massachusetts continues to slog through what is proving to be a difficult winter.
"It sucks," said George Guthro Jr. as he braved the driving snow to shovel sidewalks at of Main and Front streets. "I really hope it doesn't continue. I wish the snow would stop."
That sentiment was repeated by others in downtown Worcester Monday as people struggled with the latest heavy snowfall and predictions of possibly more bad weather on the way. Many schoolchildren, however, probably could not be happier as Worcester and other public and private schools announced plans to remain closed Tuesday or open on a two-hour delay.
In Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, Phil the groundhog saw his shadow, supposedly meaning six more weeks of winter. People who were told of the prediction were not pleased.
"I hope not," said Shaun Tavakolnia, who moved to Spencer six months ago from Los Angeles. "I've never seen anything like this in my life."
Mr. Tavakolnia said he fought his way into Worcester Monday morning to go to work, but was sick of the snow. He said some of the main roads were fine, but driving in town was difficult.
Michael Shack, owner of Shack's clothing store on Main Street, was more resigned to the weather. He said he had heard from two customers who said they would try to get to the store, but business was slow because of the hazardous conditions.
"I feel there's not much you can do about it. You just have to lug it out," he said.
On Major Taylor Boulevard, Anna Incarnacion of Springfield was bundled up against the fury of the storm. She said she moved to Springfield from the Dominican Republic and was used to summer-like weather, even in the winter.
"This is bad," she said.
The same was true for Rob Perera, wearing a face mask, a heavy hat and Miami Hurricane sweatpants. He said he was from Florida and in Worcester attending MCPHS University.
"I hate it," he said. "But the best thing about the weather is school gets canceled."
Students at public schools including Worcester, Fitchburg, Grafton, Northbridge and Douglas could no doubt relate to those words, as officials announced schools in those districts would not open Tuesday.
See complete list of school closings.
Mr. Perera said that in the first six weeks of the new year there has only been one full week of classes, because of weather problems.
On nearby Exchange Street, Daniel Drake was toughing it out, shoveling the sidewalk, but he was not loving the weather and not loving Punxsutawney Phil's prediction.
"Where are we going to put the snow?" he asked. "I'm just going to roll with it. You've got to be tough to live in New England."
In some cases people were embracing the horror.
Walking down Main Street to his job as a disc jockey, Mark Veau was wearing a New England Patriots hat to celebrate the team's Super Bowl victory.
"It's a great day to be in New England," he said.
Chanya Sae-Eaw also had a big smile on her face as she shoveled snow in a parking lot off MLK Jr. Boulevard. She said she likes being out in the blustery weather.
"I'm actually a farmer," she said. "I don't mind the weather at all."
Ms. Sae-Eaw said she runs Farmacy Gardens in Belchertown, but was in Worcester shoveling for her father, who owns the parking lot.
The National Weather Service was predicting that up to 14 inches of snow would fall on Central Massachusetts — not the record 34.5 inches that buried Worcester last week, but a significant storm, and also one for the record books. At 11.2 inches by Monday afternoon, the day's snowfall had already surpassed the 8.4 inch record set on that date in 1974, according to the National Weather Service.
The weather service was also predicting temperatures would fall overnight to near zero. The record low temperature for Feb. 3 in Worcester is minus 7 degrees, which was set in 1931 and tied in 1955 and 1971. Wind chills overnight were expected to dip to minus 11 degrees.
By Monday afternoon, Boston had set a seven-day snowfall record. Since Jan. 22, not counting snowfall on Monday, 41.3 inches has fallen.
In the first three weeks of January, only 5.2 inches of snow fell on the city, but Worcester saw a record rainfall of 1.3 inches on Jan. 19, beating the 2006 record of 1.21 inches set in 2006. This season Worcester also saw a record 5.3 inches of snowfall on Nov. 27.
The latest storm will put the city well over 50 inches in the past 10 days.
Around Central Massachusetts the highest snow totals were up north. Lunenburg was reporting 24.1 inches and Fitchburg 18.8.
The heavy snowfall has forced Worcester to take aggressive action. On Monday, 260 cars were towed for parking illegally and impeding snow removal and 45 people were issued fines for failing to shovel sidewalks.
The city has been under a parking ban since last week. To help ease the burden on residents for parking, the city opened its parking garages to free parking on Monday.
With snow still falling Monday afternoon, state courts were closed at 2:30 p.m.
Contact George Barnes at george.barnes@telegram.com. Follow him on Twitter @georgebarnesTG
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