SUBSCRIBE NEWSLETTERS
ADVERTISE| CLASSIFIEDS| JOBS| E-TRIB
HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS NETWORK TRIBLIVE LOCAL
Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source
April nor'easter with heavy, wet snow bears down on Northeast, 630,000 still without power | TribLIVE.com
Weather

April nor'easter with heavy, wet snow bears down on Northeast, 630,000 still without power

Associated Press
Associated Press
7215679_web1_7215679-f3ed89cb743244b4a7ee925a30a45ab2
Portland Press Herald
A portion of Route 9 between Falmouth and Cumberland is closed as crews work to remove a downed tree spanning the snow-covered roadway in Falmouth, Maine following a spring snowstorm.
7215679_web1_7215679-5815eab98a0149a88b659a7695904f50
Portland Press Herald
Emma Pidden waits for her bus on Congress Street in Portland, Maine, Thursday, April 4, 2024, following a spring snowstorm. Pidden said she decided to take the bus into her office because she was worried about losing WiFi at home.
7215679_web1_7215679-c6e46b706ea848839911944ce0080df5
Portland Press Herald
A tree is uprooted and leans against a home, Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Kennebunk, Maine, following a spring snowstorm.
7215679_web1_7215679-d2227e8f46a24cc3a501e85bd2afd8db
The Intelligencer
The Ohio River slowly creeps into the downtown business district at the city’s Heritage Port, Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Wheeling, W.Va., following days of heavy rains in the region.
7215679_web1_7215679-44cda2cf0c214c9c88885db8e1cf90cf
The Intelligencer
A car is floats down a street on Wheeling Island as the Ohio River floods its banks, Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Wheeling, W.Va., following days of heavy rains in the region.
7215679_web1_7215679-a82d82661d594f59bd88ee69bce5cb1f
The Intelligencer
The Ohio River floods its banks, Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Wheeling, W.Va., following days of heavy rains in the region. The Wheeling Suspension Bridge can be seen in the background.
7215679_web1_AP24095611620447
The Times Argus
Neighborhood residents walk around a crab apple tree that fell into the road on Winter Street in Montpelier, Vt., on Thursday, April, 4, 2024. Heavy snow caused widespread power outages in the northeast.
7215679_web1_AP24095479667284
AP
A commuter struggles with her umbrella while walking through wind-driven rain near South Station, Thursday, April 4, 2024, in Boston.

A major spring storm brought heavy snow, rain and high winds to the Northeast into Thursday, downing trees and power lines and leaving nearly 700,000 homes and businesses without power at some point. A woman was reported killed by a falling tree in a New York City suburb and a second woman died in a New Hampshire fire cause by the weather.

Two feet of snow is possible in parts of northern New England by Thursday evening, with wind gusts of 50 to 60 mph in coastal areas as well as inland, according to the National Weather Service.

Maine and New Hampshire bore the brunt of the power outages, with about 334,000 and 162,000 respectively as of mid-Thursday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us. Local officials said the heavy, wet snow was to blame for bringing down trees and power lines. Power outages decreased from more than 700,000 to about 630,000 by the afternoon.

“This was pretty much a classic nor’easter,” said Stephen Baron, a meteorologist for the weather service in York, Maine. “This is definitely a high-end storm for April. It’s not crazy for us to get snow in April but not usually getting double-digit amounts.”

The weather service said it was the biggest April nor’easter to hit the region since 2020.

Over a foot of snow had fallen in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, where some residents who had lost power checked in at the The Wolfeboro Inn, general manager Shawn Black said.

“This is a lot of heavy, wet snow,” he said. “And the wind is out of the northeast, so it’s really not nice in a sense of temperature-wise, especially when the speed gets up to gusts of 55 mph. While I was out on the snowblower I could really feel my forehead just go numb.”

Jane Phillips, cross country skiing in her neighborhood in Portland, Maine, was relishing the weather.

“It’s special to get snow in April and to be able to get out and enjoy it. It’s fun being a Mainer,” Phillips said. “We’ve been missing snow so, this is a special little, sort of after the winter story gift.”

Heavy snow made travel treacherous in northern parts of New England and New York, and numerous accidents were reported.

A crash shut down Interstate 95 northbound near Lewiston, Maine, for a short time on Thursday morning. In Windham, Maine, near Portland, a Jeep lost control and struck a police cruiser, but no one was injured.

The storm brought mostly heavy rain to southern portions of the Northeast, as well as high winds.

Late Wednesday afternoon, a tree fell on a vehicle in the Westchester County, New York, hamlet of Armonk, killing a woman who was the only person inside, police said.

In New Hampshire, Derry Fire Chief Shawn Haggart said a woman died and a young woman was hospitalized after a morning house fire Thursday that was sparked by an explosion.

Haggart said the New Hampshire State Fire Marshal’s Office concluded that a tree fell on the house near propane tanks that were outside the home at time when strong winds were knocking down tree branches and powerlines in the area.

Dozens of flights at airports in the region were canceled or delayed. Many schools and government offices were closed in northern areas.

State government was shutdown in Maine, where a special commission investigating the October mass shooting in Lewiston had to postpone a scheduled hearing.

“We recommend that you stay off the roads if you can, but if you must travel during the storm, be sure to give plow trucks, utility crews, and emergency first responders plenty of room as they work to keep us safe,” said Maine Gov. Janet Mills.

Utilities in northern New England said they were prepared for the storm, but power restoration could still be lengthy.

“Weather conditions are going to be hazardous on Thursday, and we ask everyone to use caution on the roads,” said Jon Breed, spokesperson for Central Maine Power.

Whipping wind and driving rain battered Boston. Staff at the New England Aquarium there did a sweep of the roof to make sure nothing could blow into the sea lion habitat, which is partially exposed to the outdoors. The storm caught some visitors off guard.

“I just saw the wind and the rain and I just bought this little poncho to protect myself,” said Claire Saussol, who grew up in France and was was visiting Boston on Wednesday. “I wasn’t prepared with the warm clothes. It’s worse than the north of France! Very worse, but it’s ok. It’s a pretty city.”

Meanwhile, cleanup work continued in several states wracked by tornadoes and other severe weather blamed for at least three deaths earlier this week. Tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia.

Killed were a homeless woman in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was sheltering inside a drainage pipe during heavy rains, a woman in the Philadelphia suburb of Collegeville whose car was hit by a falling tree and a person involved in a car accident in Kentucky,

In West Virginia, the National Weather Service confirmed Thursday that an EF-2 tornado with winds of up to 130 mph hit the Fayette County community of Hico on Tuesday, damaging at least a dozen homes and businesses. The weather service also issued a warning for major flooding through Sunday in some communities along the Ohio River. About 40,000 homes and businesses in the state remained without power.

Remove the ads from your TribLIVE reading experience but still support the journalists who create the content with TribLIVE Ad-Free.

Get Ad-Free >

Categories: News | Top Stories | Weather | U.S./World
";