Heavy Snowfall Snarls Traffic in Northeast

April showers turned into a snowstorm that stunned New England with up to 21 inches of heavy, wet snow Wednesday, snarling traffic for motorists who had removed snow tires for the season and leaving thousands without electricity.

Two days before the storm, Concord, N.H., had warmed into the 70s and flowers had started blooming.

New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu ordered state offices closed until noon to reduce the number of people getting in the way of road crews, and some schools were closed in Rhode Island.

‘Pretty Out There’

“It’s an absolutely awful sight. We’re bearing with it as well as we can,” said police dispatcher Janet Bagley in Foster, R.I. But she added: “It’s actually very, very pretty out there.”

Heavier snowfall amounts included 21 inches in north-central Massachusetts at Ashburnham and Lunenburg; 18 inches at Francestown, N.H.; 17 inches at Mount Vernon, N.H.; 15 inches at Burrillville and Glocester, R.I., and 13 inches at Brassua, Me.

Worcester in east-central Massachusetts received at least 17 inches, the largest spring snowstorm on record. The storm gave the city a total for the month of 21 inches, also a record, the National Weather Service said.

Power lines felled by the weight of the snow or falling branches left about 40,000 people without power Wednesday in the Worcester, Framingham and Merrimack Valley areas of Massachusetts, utility officials said.

In Rhode Island, about 7,000 customers of Blackstone Valley Electric Co. were without power for up to an hour Tuesday night, and scattered outages continued Wednesday, spokesman David Correira said.

Radio Stations Silenced

At least a half-dozen radio stations in New Hampshire were knocked off the air.

The airport at Worcester, Mass., was closed Wednesday, and more than 150 snowplows were called out. The city’s snow-removal budget already had a deficit of at least $1 million, and the storm was expected to cost an additional $50,000 to $60,000, said Richard Grant, deputy commissioner of public works.

In Gardner, Mass., where the Public Works Department budget was almost depleted, the highway division had to send out sanders and plows to remove about six inches of snow, highway division foreman Dennis Landry said.

“It’s a little rough going because a lot of them (motorists) have taken off their snow tires already,” he said. “It’s like a mini-blizzard.”

About 600 plows and sanders were rolled out in Boston for the morning commute. Snowplows in New Hampshire had to wait for fallen trees to be removed from some roads.