Powerful Winter Storm Swipes Mass.

A powerful winter storm moved across Massachusetts Monday, bringing high winds, flooding and several inches of snow to some parts of the state.

Southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands were hit the hardest. The National Weather Service said several towns in those areas had met the criteria for a blizzard — with sustained winds of 35 MPH or more for several hours.

Arriving just as high tide hit Monday morning, the storm also caused moderate coastal flooding in several communities south of Boston and on the islands.

Flooding was also anticipated during the evening high tide, though not as bad as during the morning.

As the storm was winding down Monday evening, temperatures were expected to fall into the teens. WBUR meteorologist David Epstein said snow would continue to fall on and off in some parts of the state at varying levels of intensity.

"In places like MetroWest there's been heavy bands for much of the afternoon. That's where some of the high [snow] totals will end up being," Epstein said. "But in the Boston area it's been a bit lighter, and it's also becoming lighter across Cape Cod and the Islands."

Gov. Charlie Baker told reporters Monday afternoon that traffic on the roads had been light, and he urged the public to continue to avoid driving through the evening.

"This is not only a public safety issue," Gov. Baker said, "but it will allow our road crews to continue to clear the snow quickly."

More than 3,000 crews were out clearing the roads at the height of the storm, according to the Department of Transportation.

Several minor car crashes were reported across the state. State police urged those who had to drive to take it slow. The speed limit on the entire Mass Pike was lowered to 40 MPH. The weather also closed the carpool lane on I-93 for the day.

While high winds were a concern, power outages were not a major problem. As of 7 p.m., fewer than 500 customers were without power, down from 3,000 earlier in the day.

Epstein said the snow was light and fluffy, helping to prevent the sort of widespread outages we saw during Friday's storm, which featured heavy, wet snow.

The storm forced Boston, Worcester and dozens of other communities to cancel school on Monday. Non-essential state employees in several counties were also asked to stay home.

Boston Mayor Marty Walsh said Friday evening he expected things to be back to normal in the city Tuesday.

"We have Boston Public School plow contractors cleaning our parking lots, the custodians are cleaning the sidewalks in front of the entrances and around the schools, the bus contractors are working overnight to be ready for the morning ride, and the MBTA will be operating on a normal schedule," Walsh said during a press conference.

About 30 percent of flights at Logan Airport were cancelled Monday, mostly due to wind rather than snow.

Aviation Director Ed Freni said it will take airlines some time to get back to normal even after the storm dies down.

"It's going to be very slow and there will be a number of flights that will probably cancel beyond what we've seen already, and certainly there will be delays."

Freni said airline passengers should call ahead to check on their flight status before heading to Logan.

Some more snow showers were in the forecast for Tuesday morning. We won't see much in the way of accumulation, but temperatures will remain cold for the rest of the week.