It’s April Fools’ Day but it’s no joke: People across northern New England woke up to a foot of heavy, wet snow in parts of the region Saturday and conducted weekend business as more fell throughout the day.
The storm caused power outages and numerous highway accidents. By mid-afternoon the number of electric customers without power across New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine had dropped to about 2,200 from overnight totals that reached into the tens of thousands. The winter storm warning for New Hampshire and Vermont expired, but remained in place for parts of Maine until 8 p.m.
Winter had already brought more snow than normal to northern New England. Concord had 73.8 inches, about 15 inches above normal. While Portland, Maine, recorded 84.4 inches of snow, 2 feet above normal for the city.
“This is Mother Nature’s idea of an April Fools’ joke,” said meteorologist Eric Schwibs of the National Weather Service.
Bradford, about 20 miles west of Concord, reported 18 inches of snow while the nearby town of Washington reported 17 inches.
Snow-related crashes were reported in New Hampshire when a loaded tractor-trailer rolled over on Interstate 95 in Hampton, blocking three lanes. The 34-year-old driver, a resident of Chelsea, Mass., was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
Just after noon New Hampshire’s Unitil utility reported a handful of its customers were without power, down from a peak of about 7,000 early Saturday.
Spokesman Alec O’Meara said customers still without power should call customer service.
“Never assume someone else has reported an outage impacting your home, especially if you see power restored to your neighbors,” O’Meara said. “You may have an issue exclusive to your home so be sure to report it.”
In Vermont, the state’s largest electric utility, Green Mountain Power, had more than 21,000 customers back on line after they had lost power overnight. About 1,700 remained without service.
Kristin Carlson, a vice president for the utility, urged caution.
“People should stay away from down lines, as they may be live and dangerous, and be aware that downed trees could have power lines tangled in them and may also be unsafe,” she said.
In southern New England, the first day of April came in with a wintry mix of snow, sleet and rain, but most accumulation was expected to fade away quickly as more spring-like temperatures were predicted to warm up the region.