Mass. Cleans Up After Heavy Winter Storm

The sun came out in Massachusetts the day after a storm dropped more than two feet of snow in some parts of the state.

While major highways were mostly clear on Thursday, many secondary roads remained slick with snow and ice in the below-freezing temperatures, while mountains of snow obstructed views at intersections.

The commonwealth's state of emergency not lifted until just before noon, scores of Massachusetts schools remained closed, while dozens of others delayed opening by up to two hours.

"All of the national guardsmen are standing down (Thursday) morning," said Peter Judge, of the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. "So we're sort back to a monitoring mode. The guard in fact had no missions. They stood up in preparedness to be ready to go and be ready to what communities needed. But fortunately, there were no requests."

Boston's parking ban was lifted at 9 a.m. The MBTA reported some delays on its commuter rail and along the Blue, Green and Red Lines.

The highest snowfall totals, according to unofficial observations reported to the National Weather Service, were 38 inches in Savoy and 33 inches in the inappropriately named town of Florida in the far west of the state.

Florida Town Administrator Christine Dobbert says while this storm was no trip to the beach, they're always prepared for long winters.

"For us having a two-foot snowstorm is like the average," Dobbert said. "Being that our winters start in November and don't end until April, the snow isn't really a problem to handle."

Less than 3,000 customers were without power late Thursday morning, down from about 100,000 at the height of the storm.

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