Snow-covered Mass. lifts state of emergency

(Reuters) - Massachusetts lifted its state of emergency on Thursday as New England dug out from under deep snow following a winter storm that blasted the region with high winds and chilly temperatures.

The storm blanketed eastern New York and western New England with anywhere from 8 inches to unofficial reports of 38 inches of snow in Berkshire County in Massachusetts, said meteorologist Brian Frugis with the National Weather Service in Albany, New York.

Crew clear heavy snow off power lines during a winter nor'easter snow storm in Somerville, Massachusetts January 12, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder

By Lauren Keiper

BOSTON | Thu Jan 13, 2011 1:53pm EST

Despite the snow from Wednesday's storm, Massachusetts emergency management teams and state police reported no major accidents.

"The road clean-up was excellent," said Peter Judge, spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. "We attribute that to the fact that folks stayed off the roads yesterday."

Massachusetts lifted the state of emergency it had declared at noon on Wednesday, at the height of the storm. Such declarations are typically made in order to gain access to emergency funding and to mobilize certain resources, such as the National Guard, to cope with the storm's impact.

Power outages that affected more than 100,000 homes at the peak of the storm were reduced to just 3,500, said Judge.

Traffic patterns at Boston's Logan International Airport also were returning to normal.

Two active runways were available at Logan, with airlines operating at about 90 percent of a typical schedule, said Logan spokesman Phil Orlandella.

Winds that were a major factor in Wednesday's storm were likely to linger in the 10 to 25 mph range, which may cause snow to blow and drift, say meteorologists.

The winds were creating a significant chill in the air throughout the Northeast that was likely to keep the snow from melting, according to Accuweather.com meteorologists.

Wednesday's blizzard-like conditions did set some records, including a new snowstorm record in Hartford, Connecticut of 24 inches and a new snowiest day in Worcester, Massachusetts with 21.1 inches, according to The Weather Channel.

The heavy snow did not cause major outages or accidents in Vermont, said Mark Bosma, spokesman for Vermont Emergency Management.

In fact, Bosma said the state's ski industry "is doing backflips right now" over the fresh snow ahead of the three-day holiday weekend.

The latest storm to batter the Northeast came on the heels of separate weather systems that wreaked havoc across the South and Midwest.

"The potency of Wednesday's snowstorm came to be after two separate storm systems merged together," said Accuweather.com senior meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski. Continue ►