Mail.comBOSTON (AP) — It has topped more than 100 inches of snow this season, but Boston is just short of surpassing its 20-year-old snowfall record — for now that is.
Sunday’s snowfall brought the city’s total to 103.9 inches. It needs just 3.7 inches more to break the 1995-1996 record of 107.6. Two small snowfalls, Tuesday night and Wednesday into Thursday, could be just what’s needed, said Frank Nocera, a National Weather Service meteorologist in the Taunton, Massachusetts, office. “The combination of those two events could put us over the record,” he said.
Elsewhere, heavy snow was falling in the southern Rockies and Great Basin and heavy rain was soaking parts of the Southwest. A flood watch was in effect until 8 p.m. Monday for east-central and south-central Arizona, including metropolitan Phoenix.
Snow fell from the Ohio Valley into the Northeast for much of Sunday and freezing rain hit the Mid-Atlantic.
RECORD COLD
February 2015 was one for the record books in the Northeast.
The Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University says Buffalo, Syracuse, Binghamton and Ithaca, New York, shivered through their coldest months ever.
The average temperature was 10.9 degrees in Buffalo, beating the 1934 record of 11.4. The monthly average was 9.0 in Syracuse, 12.2 in Binghamton and 10.2 in Ithaca.
February record lows were also set in Hartford, Connecticut, at 16.1; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania at 20.9; and Portland, Maine at 13.8.
In Rhode Island, Providence set a record with 31.8 inches of snow for the month of February.
The Providence Journal reports that it also was the second-coldest February on record, with an average temperature of 18.4 degrees.
SCHOOL CLOSINGS AND DELAYS
In the West, public schools closed Monday in Flagstaff as a winter storm dropped snow in Arizona’s high country and rain in the deserts.
In northern and east-central Arizona, the National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for Flagstaff and other areas of the Mogollon Rim region from midday Monday until early Tuesday morning.
A flash-flood watch was issued Monday for the Phoenix area in south-central Arizona and low-lying areas of southwestern Arizona, while snow is forecast for southeastern Arizona mountains.
In the East, a number of school district delayed opening for up to two hours Monday, providing some melting time for a coating of ice that blanketed states from the Mid-Atlantic northward.
BLIZZARD, AVALANCHE WARNINGS
Weather forecasters in Colorado issued blizzard and avalanche warnings as Pacific moisture continued to bring snow and strong winds to the Continental Divide on Sunday. The storm was expected to last through Monday, with another storm expected Tuesday. The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for Wolf Creek Pass and the Colorado Avalanche Information Center issued avalanche warnings for the South San Juan, Sangre de Cristo and Gunnison areas. The avalanche danger in southern Colorado has been increased to high.
WEATHER-RELATED DEATHS
Authorities reported four people, including one child, died in weather-related incidents in Missouri.
Two people were killed when a driver lost control on a snow-covered highway in Lebanon on Saturday when the car skidded into a tractor-trailer stopped because of an earlier crash on Interstate 44. The 20-year-old driver survived, but both passengers were ejected and killed.
A 25-year-old eastern Missouri woman died Sunday morning on a snow-covered stretch of Interstate 70, state police said. Her vehicle began to slide and it went off the left side of the interstate before returning to the roadway and colliding with a tractor-trailer.
In Nevada, Missouri, a boy died after falling through an ice-covered farm pond. Emergency crews rushed to the scene Saturday morning after a caller said three children were in the pond, according to fire officials. A bystander pulled one boy from the pond, and another boy was able to get out on his own, The Joplin Globe (http://bit.ly/1AKQuEl) reported.
Illinois and Indiana got 8 inches or more of snow Sunday from the same weather system.
In New Bedford, Massachusetts, state police said a 22-year-old woman died after being ejected from a car that overturned while the driver was trying to avoid snow in the roadway. The driver suffered minor injuries.
CALIFORNIA STORM
The winter storm brought pounding rain, lightning, snow and hail to Southern California on Sunday.
Crews worked to clean up a mudslide that shut down a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway northwest of Los Angeles early Sunday. The area received between a quarter-inch to half an inch of rain overnight, the weather service said. The threat of showers was to linger until Monday morning when the cold low-pressure system moved out.
MICHIGAN TOT HOSPITALIZED
A 3-year-old Lansing, Michigan, girl was hospitalized in critical condition after getting stuck overnight outside her family’s apartment during frigid weather that marked the end of one of the coldest Februaries on record in Michigan.
According to police, the girl was treated for severe hypothermia. A relative found the girl on a sidewalk in front of the apartment complex about 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Lansing police Sgt. Joe Brown told the Lansing State Journal (http://on.lsj.com/1M0N4PH). The temperature was 5 degrees at the time.
SNOW DELAY FOR HERNANDEZ
The weather is again delaying the murder trial of former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez.
The court has delayed Monday’s start until 10:15 a.m. There already have been 5.5 snow days since jury selection began in the trial Jan. 9.
Hernandez is charged with the 2013 killing of semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd, who was dating his fiancée’s sister.
MARATHON CANCELED
Winter weather over the last few days in North Texas prompted organizers of the Cowtown Marathon in Fort Worth to cancel the race. The marathon, along with a 50K ultra marathon — both of which had been set for Sunday — were canceled. The half marathon, however, was held Sunday morning.
Heidi Swartz, Cowtown executive director, said the safety of runners, volunteers and spectators was the top priority.
TRUCK FALLS THROUGH ICE
A pickup truck drove onto a frozen river in New Jersey early Sunday, spun around repeatedly and then plunged through the ice, police said, and rescue teams found a dead dog but no people inside.
Later, the driver, who owned the dog, and a passenger turned themselves in, state police said. They were in custody and were being questioned, but police had not said whether they would face criminal charges including for the death of the dog, which apparently drowned.
The passenger had gotten out of the truck just before the driver took it out onto the ice, police said.
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