Mild weather on the way after blizzard caps off cold, snowy start to 2022

The Blizzard of 2022 is over.

However, the digging out continued Sunday with tranquil and increasingly mild weather on the way for a few days. It was an official blizzard in many communities — including Boston, Worcester, Beverly and Martha's Vineyard — which saw at least three hours of near-whiteout conditions.

The storm more or less performed as expected. The heaviest snowfall occurred from Boston on south, along with most areas from about the Route 495 belt eastward, which all saw at least a foot. The snow was much lighter across western Massachusetts, which was too far away from the center of the storm.

Bands of heavy snow continued to rotate through eastern Massachusetts for much of the storm, piling up impressive measurements which at times grew by 3 inches per hour. The wind whipped the snow into drifts — but it also pushed the flakes together, making the density of what was on the ground a little tighter than it would have been without much wind.

The storm produced Boston's largest one-day snowfall total ever, and the seventh-largest snowstorm. The total monthly snow amount — just over 3 feet — is the eighth-largest on record for any month and the fourth-snowiest January.

Indeed, January 2022 will go down as a snowy and somewhat colder start compared to any other year.

With the fresh snow cover and light winds, temperatures Sunday night will fall down toward zero in the coldest spots but recover quickly on Monday under the increasingly strong January sun. Melting will take place by Tuesday as readings get back into the 30s.

Our next storm system will actually bring some rain toward the end of the week. But it does turn noticeably colder as we approach the upcoming weekend.