Boston Schools Will Remain Closed Tuesday After A Historic Week Of Snowfall

Boston public schools will remain closed Tuesday and the Patriots' Super Bowl victory parade has been postponed until Wednesday as the city digs out from what's been a historic week of snowfall.

The latest storm was still roaring when the National Weather Service announced Monday afternoon that the city had broken a record for the snowiest seven-day period ever.

As of 1 PM Boston has now set a new record for snowiest 7 day period 34.2 inches. Old record 31.2 in ending 01/08/1996.

— NWS Boston (@NWSBoston) February 2, 2015

Several communities across the state were reporting more than a foot of snow Monday evening, with Lunenburg and other parts of Worcester County at nearly 2 feet — much higher than forecasters had predicted. Nearly 16 inches had fallen at Logan Airport by 7 p.m.

The National Weather Service said the last of the heavy snow was expected to move offshore by 9 p.m., with lingering light snow showers expected on the Cape and Islands until 10 p.m. Temperatures were expected to plummet overnight Monday, and the National Weather Service warned of the potential for flash freezing.

While many school districts across the state were closed Monday, Gov. Charlie Baker defended his decision to keep state government offices open and not order a driving ban like he did during last week's blizzard.

Baker said he spoke with the same experts he did last week and they all agreed that while Monday's storm was big, it wasn't the same kind of historic storm that dumped 3 feet of snow on some Massachusetts communities.

Baker said that while he passed on a driving ban, he encouraged people to use public transportation.

But the storm still caused headaches on the roads, with state police reporting several spinouts and other accidents across the state.

The speed limit on the Mass. Pike was reduced to 40 mph, and the HOV lane on I-93 was closed for both commutes Monday.

Transportation Secretary Stephanie Pollack said the evening commute was tough in part because forecasters had predicted the snow would taper off earlier than it did.

"The plan had been to try to catch up from the morning ahead of the rush hour," Pollack said. "But the snow has been falling longer than we expected, which means that we can plow, but we can't treat it with the chemicals that will help melt it down to the nice black pavement that everyone would prefer."

Those taking public transportation didn't fare much better. Frozen rails on the Red Line forced the MBTA to replace subway service with shuttle buses between JFK/UMass and Braintree. Buses also replaced Green Line trolleys between Packards Corner and Boston College due to a disabled train.

On top of that, several dozen bus routes were reporting moderate delays and nearly every commuter rail line was dealing with cancellations and/or delays Monday evening.

While the snow will move offshore overnight, wind chills will leave it feeling below zero across much of the state -- which could spell more trouble for the T Tuesday morning.

With reporting from the WBUR Newsroom and the Associated Press.