More than 2,000 customers in Massachusetts were still without power Thursday morning in the aftermath of a powerful storm that brought heavy snow, strong winds, and rain to the region, officials said.
“The powerful late season winter storm that brought historic heavy wet snow/power outages to portions of the northern Worcester Hills and the east slopes of the [Berkshires] will loosen its grip on our region today,’' forecasters at the National Weather Service in Norton wrote Wednesday.
Forecasters were monitoring rising water levels in river basins in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, where flood warnings remain in effect until Thursday morning. There were also concerns about flooding along the Assabet River in Maynard, the Taunton River in Bridgewater, and the Wood River in Rhode Island.
Advertisement
Temperatures were expected to rise above freezing and into the low 40s Wednesday. In western and northern Worcester County, where snowfall was measured in feet, forecasters were concerned about persistent strong winds knocking down more trees and power lines, delaying resumption of electrical service.
According to the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency’s online outage map, 4, 093 customers remained without power as of 11:25 p.m.
The heaviest snowfall was reported in Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire counties, as well as a portion of Middlesex County, according to the weather service. The town of Colrain received 3 feet of snow, Paxton recorded 27.5 inches, Plainfield got 32 inches, Ashby measured 30 inches, while Boston’s Logan Airport reported less than an inch.
In Haverhill, where about 4 inches of snow was recorded, public schools opened two hours late, and officials apologized for not closing schools as the storm intensified on Tuesday.
“Dear Families – We called this one wrong, and we are so sorry! All reports indicated it would not switch from rain to snow until after 1:00 p.m. in Haverhill, but as you know, we started seeing it come down steadily mid-morning,’' administrators wrote. “Some families chose to keep their students home today, and others dismissed them early. All student absences and dismissals will be excused for the day.”
Advertisement
The storm also affected air travel. FlightAware, a tracking site, reported late Wednesday night that 53 flights at Logan International Airport had been cancelled in the past 24 hours.
Looking ahead, the National Weather Service said the area could get a little rain this weekend.
“A powerful ocean storm south of Nova Scotia will continue moving east tonight followed by high [pressure] building in from the west Thursday,” the weather service said in an afternoon advisory Wednesday. “Warming trend through the end of the week with a few shower chances late Friday and Saturday. Much colder conditions are ushered in behind departing cold front Sunday. Next work week will start off seasonable and dry.”
Travis Andersen of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
John R. Ellement can be reached at john.ellement@globe.com. Follow him @JREbosglobe.