First nor'easter of season dumps more than a foot of snow on New England, creates white out conditions on roads and leaves 280,000 without power
The first nor'easter of the season created strong winds, dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas and left more than 280,000 without power in New England over the weekend.
The storm started to barrel down on Saturday, hitting Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Connecticut hard.
By Sunday morning more than 280,000 power outages were reported, as per PowerOutage.US, with 218,000 blackouts reported in Maine alone.
'Additional snow and blustery winds over northern New England will taper off through the day as a storm system slowly exits across eastern Canada,' the National Weather Service said Sunday.
The storm will dump remaining snow over Maine as it winds down Sunday.
The first nor'easter of the season brought strong winds, dumped more than a foot of snow and left more than 280,000 without power in New England. A view of a man walking through heavy snow on Saturday in downtown Marlborough, Massachusetts
A couple walks through heavy snow on Saturday December 5 in downtown Marlborough, Massachusetts during the first big storm of the season
A view of blizzard conditions along the I-395 in Thompson, Connecticut above with a tow plow and plow truck working to remove snow build up above over the weekend
In Shapleigh, Maine and Derry, New Hampshire around eight inches of snow were recorded and Paxton, Massachusetts reported 12.5 inches. A view of snow build up in South Paris, Maine
A view of the National Weather Service snowfall predictions map for the East Coast from Saturday to Sunday above, showing heaviest snowfall will hit Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine
This weather map shows weather forecast for Sunday with rain predicted to drench the southern East Coast and Gulf states and mixed precipitation in Virginia and Tennessee, and snow forecast in Maine and New Hampshire
Satellite loop from this morning shows a well-defined area of low pressure strengthening off the Mid-Atlantic coast. This storm will bring heavy snow and gusty winds to New England today. 🛰️ pic.twitter.com/9Y2R1bd0mV
— NWS Weather Prediction Center (@NWSWPC) December 5, 2020
Satellite loop from this morning shows a well-defined area of low pressure strengthening off the Mid-Atlantic coast. This storm will bring heavy snow and gusty winds to New England today. 🛰️ pic.twitter.com/9Y2R1bd0mV
In Shapleigh, Maine and Derry, New Hampshire around eight inches of snow were recorded and Paxton, Massachusetts reported 12.5 inches.
By noon on Sunday Mount Washington, New Hampshire recorded 17.9 inches of snow. In Randolph, New Hampshire recorded more than a foot of snow with 14.4 inches.
The difficult weather led to warnings in Maine about 'treacherous roads and widespread power outages.'
The NWS warned against traveling late Saturday as blowing snow and gusty winds could reduce visibility with white out conditions.
Authorities in Connecticut urged drivers to be careful.
'Troopers are responding to accidents all over the state. We ask motorists, if they can stay home please do. And if you have to go out please drive slow and ditch all distractions,' state police tweeted.
The NWS warned against traveling late Saturday as blowing snow and gusty winds could reduce visibility with white out conditions. A view of snowy and rainy road conditions in Palmer, Massachusetts on Saturday
A view of whiteout conditions on the Massachusetts Turnpike near Warren, Massachusetts on Saturday
A shopper pushes a full grocery cart through heavy snow in a parking lot on Saturday in Marlborough, Massachusetts
A woman crosses Main Street during heavy snow on Saturday in Marlborough, Massachusetts
A snow clearing machine cleans a road during heavy snow on Saturday in Marlborough, Massachusetts
A worker pours ice melting pellets on the walkway outside a restaurant, Saturday, December 5, in downtown Marlborough, Massachusetts
Utility crews pictured restoring power on Sunday on Main Street in Greenwood, Maine where the majority of Central Maine Power customers were without power following the first nor'easter of the season
A view of the snowy Old County Road in Greenwood, Maine after the first winter storm blew through the region above
Unitil Corp., an electric and gas utility in New England, reported that crews stood ready to respond to power outages.
'The chief hazards with the current forecast include hazardous driving conditions in the early hours, the volume of wet snow forecasted to fall and possible gusty winds in coastal areas,' spokesperson Alec O'Meara said.
The storm brought gusting 68mph winds and underwent rapid intensification referred to as a bomb cyclone.
A view of nor'easter snow in Fairfield, Maine above
Josh Rush pictured shoveling his snowed in drive way in South Paris, Maine on Sunday
Children sled down a hill at Doherty High School during Saturday's storm in Worcester, Massachusetts
A view of firefighters performing a controlled burn of an abandoned house in East Windsor, Massachusetts on Saturday
A woman walks through heavy, wet snow during the storm on Saturday in Worcester, Massachusetts
Downtown Kennebunkport, Maine pictured Saturday after the nor'easter brought high winds and heavy snow to the region and knocked out power for with 218,000 people in Maine alone
A plow clears snow in the parking lot of the Price Chopper on Park Ave in Worcester, Massachusetts during the storm on Saturday December 5
'This rapid deepening of low pressure is called Bombogenesis and is what we call a bomb cyclone,' AccuWeather Meteorologist Matt Benz said
'In this case, this storm dropped from 1012 millibars over eastern Kentucky at 3pm Friday to 984 mb at 3pm Saturday near Nantucket, Massachusetts making it a bomb cyclone,' Benz added.
Powerful winds were felt along the east coast in New England and on Long Island in New York, breaking tree limbs, knocking over light trees and inflicting minor property damage.