By OWEN BOSS
Staff Writer
A nor'easter expected to begin this evening could dump 8 to 10 inches of snow across parts of the Pioneer Valley and has prompted the National Weather Service to institute a winter storm watch for much of the state.
According to News 22 meteorologist Brian Lapis, the storm will last about 18 hours and will start off as a light snow as early as this afternoon, eventually turning to a heavier, wetter snow overnight.
The predicted snowstorm has already spurred at least one cancellation - Cooley Dickinson Hospital's Stroke Support Group, which had been scheduled for Thursday, has been rescheduled to Feb. 24.
The storm, which is expected to taper off sometime late Thursday morning, will follow a record-setting cold snap in the Valley, one that recorded low temperatures at Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee of minus-20 degrees and in Orange of minus-22.
The storm, Lapis predicts, will likely impact this evening's commute, and weather experts are encouraging people to consider leaving work a little early if they travel a long distance to get home.
The storm follows a light snowstorm early Tuesday that snarled traffic for morning commuters on I-91 around Northampton. State police spent about three hours assisting more than a dozen motorists who veered in the median or spun out off I-91 in the greater Northampton area.
Two accidents caused trouble in Hatfield near Exit 22. No injuries were reported, though traffic was backed up in both the northbound and southbound lanes for miles at times during the morning commute.
"We had to remove quite a few of them from the road," said State Police Sgt. Adam Hakkarainen. "People were going too fast."
In one accident in Hatfield, a motorist smashed into a guardrail. In a collision nearby, two vehicles smashed into each other, he said.
"There were calls of cars off I-91 all morning," Hakkarainen said. He noted that state police responded to 14 separate incidents between 6 and 9:30 a.m.
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment