By OWEN BOSS and SCOTT MERZBACH
Staff Writers
The season's first major snowstorm roared through the Valley Sunday night, only causing a handful minor car accidents and with crews clearing roadways by early afternoon today.
When all was said and done, the overnight storm dropped between eight and 10 inches of light snow in cities across the region and more than a foot in some of the Hilltowns.
In Amherst, police reported few problems as a result of the snowstorm. Detective David Foster said many people likely heeded warnings to not drive unless necessary.
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At 1:45 a.m. today, a vehicle went off West Bay Road into a ditch. No injuries were reported and a towing company was able to remove the vehicle. The Department of Public Works was notified to put more sand down to prevent other vehicles from sliding off the road in the same area.
Amherst Town Hall was scheduled for a 10 a.m. opening because of the weather, and many area roadways could be easily navigated by this afternoon.
Meanwhile, the homeless shelter at the First Baptist Church was able to stay open past its normal 7:30 a.m. closing as a result of the harsh weather conditions.
In Northampton
Over the bridge in Northampton, police Capt. Scott Savino said there were no major weather-related accidents Sunday into Monday, and police only dealt with one incident involving a downed tree.
At 1:30 a.m., Savino said Northampton police responded to a reported power outage on Spring Street. After discovering that the outage was the result of a downed tree branch, Savino said police contacted National Grid and closed the roadway from Chesterfield Road to Dimock Street.
"Power at that location was lost for just under two hours," Savino said. "We were done and cleared out of there by 7:30 (this) morning."
Although he said police weren't preoccupied with any serious car accidents during the storm, Savino said towing companies worked to remove 35 cars from city roadways overnight.
Joseph Pipczynski, Easthampton's director of the Department of Public Works, said road crews were out in full force Sunday night and were ready to for anything.
"We probably had 24 pieces of equipment out there, and we were prepared for the worst," he said. "The storm produced really light fluffy snow, which meant it pushed nicely, and then we just had to worry about some spots where we got some drifts because of the wind."
Easthampton's city offices were opened at 12 p.m. today, and police responded to only two minor car accidents. The first occurred at 6:45 p.m. on Hendrick Street and the other at 10:42 p.m. at the intersection of Northampton Street and Groveland Street.
Both South Hadley and Belchertown police reported no major incidents during the overnight and early morning hours.
Westhampton road crews were prepared for the worst when the National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for Hampshire County on Sunday, but Highway Superintendent David Blakesley said that they saw only about 3 inches fall outside the Highway Garage on Stage Road. He estimated that about 5 inches had fallen in the higher elevations in town, but said it was hard to tell because of the drifting.
“There’s lots of wind for sure, and it will cause problems with drifts and will keep the roads white for a few days, but I don’t think it’s too slippery. It’s kind of a dry snow,” Blakesley said Monday afternoon.
Southampton Highway Superintendent Edward Cauley said at noon that although the snow had mostly stopped, gusty winds would mean that road crews would have to keep plowing.
“We have an awful lot of drifting,” he said. “We’re out now just pushing it back and pushing it back. We’ll probably be out until tonight and into tomorrow — until the wind subsides and the sun comes out.”
Cauley said that three or four trees came down on roads during the storm, but were quickly cleared away. No power lines were down in the storm that dropped 4 to 5 inches here.
Goshen Highway Superintendent Joel Lagergren said that the snow storm hit hardest late Sunday night, coming down at a rate of one to two inches per hour. “The total is about 8 inches, but it’s hard to say because the snow isn’t staying still long enough to be measured, the wind is blowing so hard,” he said around noon today. “The wind is supposed to continue through the afternoon, so the drifts will definitely need to be tended to.”
Lagergren added that no trees or wires had been reported down.
He also said that the Highway Department employees and equipment did well during their first snow storm of the year. “It’s just breaking us in,” he said. “There were no major problems, just that the snow just kept coming.”
Huntington survived the storm well, said Highway Superintendent Charles Dazelle, thanks to plows and sanders that treated the roads on Sunday night until 11 p.m. and Monday morning beginning at 4 a.m.
“The snow has pretty much stopped, but we have a lot of drifts and a few back roads that we need to check before we go home,” he said at noon on Monday. “There are no trees down ... yet.”
Dazelle said about 4 to 5 inches fell in Huntington.
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com
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