As state and local road crews worked through the day and night Thursday to clear away snow a nor’easter dumped on the state, officials were bracing for the the storm’s second act — plummeting temperatures expected to sink to the single digits Friday and below zero Friday night.
As of 7:52 p.m. the National Weather Service was reporting that the storm had dropped 16 inches of snow in Pawtucket; 14.0 inches in Cumberland, North Providence, Riverside and West Warwick; 13.5 in Portsmouth, 13.3 in Providence and 13.0 inches in Burrillville. Peak wind gusts were 74 mph on the Pell Bridge, 71 mph on Block Island, 63 mph in Charlestown, 56 mph in Westerly and 51 mph at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick.
Block Island was the only location in Southern New England where the Weather Service was able to confirm a blizzard — which it defines as three consecutive hours falling or blowing snow that reduces visibility to below a quarter-mile along with sustained winds of 35 mph or greater. Near-blizzard conditions were recorded across Rhode Island.
By late Thursday afternoon, schools across the state had canceled Friday classes.
Providence Mayor Jorge O. Elorza blamed the expected single-digit temperatures and sub-zero wind chills.
“You can’t have children waiting for buses” in those temperatures, he said.
It seemed most drivers heeded the call to stay off the roads and police departments reporting accidents had few serious ones.
As of about 4 p.m., state police reported having answered 121 calls for help and investigated seven minor crashes. From 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday they said they assisted 89 vehicles off the roadway and towed 16. Warwick police reported handling 81 calls, two for accidents and 24 for disabled vehicles.
The nor’easter prompted school closings, parking bans and cancellations that effectively shut down the state. Though the New England Patriots still held practice in Foxboro, the storm accomplished what most of the National Hockey League hadn’t been able to do lately, namely shut down the Boston Bruins, who cancelled their Thursday night game with Florida Panthers at TD Garden.
Gov. Gina Raimondo said that while the storm was severe, it hadn’t risen to a level that justified declaring a state of emergency, though she said she was monitoring the situation to see if that would change. She anticipated that state government would be open as usual on Friday.
She banned tractor trailer trucks from the state’s roads from noon until 9 p.m., after a rash of jackknifed trucks throughout the state on Thursday morning. Journal reporters observed at least two tractor trailers on the highways after the ban took effect. State Police Col. Ann C. Assumpico said that if caught, violators would face an $85 fine.
As the snow wound down, officials’ thoughts turned to worries that high winds and heavy snow would cause power outages overnight as temperatures dropped Raimondo said.
"After the snow stops then we move into the second phase of the storm which is dangerously cold weather," Raimondo said. "Tonight through til tomorrow through til Saturday, extremely cold temperatures, sub-zero temperatures. The wind gusts will continue through the evening tonight so we do anticipate the possibility of power outages through the evening tonight. I want to emphasize again, please make a plan now."
But during the day, there were relatively few outages.
By 6 p.m. Thursday, National Grid, the state’s main electric utility, had restored power to about 1,200 customers throughout the storm and another 27 were still without service. The Pascoag Utility District, in Burrillville, appeared to have no outages during the storm and the Block Island Power Company reported only “a few minor issues.”
“Knock on wood, we’ve been very fortunate, especially with what’s been going on in eastern Massachusetts,” Ted Kresse, spokesman for National Grid in Rhode Island. said.
There, about 24,000 customers were without power late Thursday, including 5,000 served by National Grid.
Raimondo called on residents to find out where their local shelters were in case they lost power.
“Nobody should tough it out in their house if they lose power,” the governor said, “and we’re expecting dangerous cold temperatures.”
The day was especially hard on the homeless.
"About 125 people, including a family with four children, took refuge in our emergency shelter in Providence last night," Crossroads Rhode Island spokeswoman Laura Calenda said Thursday. With the near-term forecast calling for even colder weather, she anyone needing a warm place to stay should call Crossroads at 521-2255, or go to the group’s headquarters at 160 Broad St., Providence in Providence.
Providence Public Works Director Michael Borg said the main snow-plowing effort would start in the evening, once the snowfall let up. That was where parking bans came into play, he said. Streets had to be free of parked cars if the plows were to clear them curb-to-curb.
Elorza said clearing the streets Thursday night/Friday morning was crucial because any snow still on the ground would freeze solid and be extremely difficult to remove.
The same thing applied to sidewalks, he said, as he called on residents to clear the walkways in front of their homes and to help their neighbors do the same.
“We need everyone to chip in,” he said.
With reports from staff writers Patrick Anderson, Linda Borg, G. Wayne Miller, Katie Mulvaney and Mark Reynolds