Been There, Done That

Attempting to fly out of Logan International in Boston on Saturday morning was a real adventure. Unfortuntately, the airline was AirTran (a no-frills subsidiary of Delta) and the cancellation of flights and the closing of the airport made for chaos. Anyway, I attempted to book myself into an airport-area Rodeway Inn (low-cost, but tolerable) to wait out the storm. However, I went through two cab drivers (one from Nigeria, I think, and the other from a Middle Eastern country) who could not find the Rodeway Inn. With the second ride and the meter already at $15 in less than 10 minutes, I demanded to be dropped at the next available hotel. The driver—glad to be shed of me—dropped me in front of the Seaport Hotel (on Boston Harbor, across the water from the airport). Poor me. I rode out the first big storm of the season in a 5-◊ hotel. Dead giveaway: free bottled water in the room; terrycloth robes in the closet; phone by the commode; and a concierge desk in the lobby. This was not the Rodeway Inn. The snow stopped (finally) on Sunday eve. I went to Logan on Monday morn; a zoo-like atmosphere. The 8:55am flight didn't take to the air until 11:00am or so. Connections missed all the way around. I finally made it to DFW at 6:00pm. I had to retrieve my suitcase and go through the security gate all over again. Somehow, I staggered in my door at 10:45pm. What a fun day! Somehow, I lost the spirit for AudioBlog updates as the day wore on and on. If this be (fair & balanced) self-pity, so be it.

[x NYTimes]
Snow Deep and Deadly Leaves a Region in a Daze
By PAM BELLUCK and KATIE ZEZIMA

BOSTON, Dec. 7 — Talk about a home field advantage. Despite snowfall of up to three feet in parts of the Boston area, the New England Patriots carried on with their scheduled game here Sunday afternoon, perhaps hoping that the lollapalooza of a storm would disorient and derail the opposing team, the Dolphins of no-snow Miami.

But the Patriots, who played in blowing snowflakes on a white-glazed field framed by mountains of snow (and won, 12-0), took care to make sure their fans were not caught unawares.

"We request ALL FANS to please CAR POOL," said a weather advisory issued by the team on its Web site. "We cannot stress this enough!"

What's more, the advisory continued: "Due to the overwhelming amount of snow in the stadium and the height of some of the snowdrifts, fans should expect many of the seats in the bowl of the stadium to be covered in snow. We advise all fans to bring blankets, snow gloves and snow boots and caution fans to expect to clear snow from their seats when they arrive."

Stacey James, a spokesman for Patriots, said grounds crews had removed "tons of snow," hauling it out on conveyor belts, but he added: "It's like removing sand from the beach. It's next to impossible to get to some of the sections, but fans are doing it." The fans "burrowed in like they're in igloos," he said.

It was a quintessential New England way of dealing with a prodigious pounding by the weather: Just carry on, and don't expect it to be easy.

On Sunday much of New England seemed dazed by a weekend-long snow deluge that traumatized traffic, contributed to at least six deaths in the Northeast, punched out power lines for some 7,000 residents of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, caused flooding along the coast and generally stalled things like SAT exams, Sunday school classes and the high school football playoffs.

Coming two weeks ahead of the start of winter and on the heels of last winter's malingering snowstorms that lasted into April, this storm struck people with a kind of head-shaking surprise.

"It feels like winter just ended," muttered a woman who was trudging through the Natick Mall with two bundled-up children.

She was part of a skeleton crew of shoppers at the cavernous mall in the western Boston suburbs.

"It is pretty light," said Stephanie Messina, a manager at the Waldenbooks in the mall, speaking of the traffic in her store. "Just proportionately compared to what it should be this time of year, it's pretty sad, actually."

Walter Drag, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass., said the storm was one of the five worst in Massachusetts since 1950; most areas received 25 to 40 percent of their annual snowfall this weekend.

"It is early and notable," Mr. Drag said, adding that the odds were that the coming winter would be a snowy one. Usually, he said, "when you get an early start, you're going to get more than normal."

Scott Whittier, senior meteorologist at the weather service station in Burlington, Vt., said that while most people thought the worst storms occurred in January in February, the fiercest storms actually occurred in December and March, as the seasons are changing.

"We're in the transitional mode from summer to winter, and there's a lot of energy in the cold air in Canada and the warm air in the gulf," Mr. Whittier said. "Whenever you have large air masses trying to fight one another, you get the most potent storm."

The deaths attributed to the storm came in several New England states. In Rhode Island, a 46-year-old man riding a snowmobile was struck and killed by an Amtrak Acela Express train, and a 25-year-old man riding in an inner tube being towed by a truck was killed when he slammed into a pole. The driver of the truck was charged with driving under the influence, the police said.

In Vermont, a 46-year-old woman and her 15-year-old daughter were killed while traveling in poor road conditions, the state police said.

In Boston, which got about two feet of snow, Logan International Airport closed Saturday evening and did not reopen any runways until after noon on Sunday. Mayor Thomas M. Menino warned residents that they could be fined $250 if they shoveled snow onto city streets.

In the Brighton neighborhood of Boston, cold, exasperated residents spent hours unearthing their cars from snowdrifts that stood higher than most people. Others walked in the brown, slushy streets or trekked through semi-shoveled sidewalks on their way to convenience stores, coffee shops and bars seeking respite from cabin fever. Groups of neighbors could be seen having what they called "shovel parties," where everyone pitches in to dig out cars.

Sebastian Beninca, 33, who works in construction, could not make it to work on Sunday, and by midafternoon he was shoveling out his car for the third time.

"I hope that's the last time," he said. "My arms are tired."



But for all the snow-induced stress, there were bright spots.

Traffic accidents were greatly minimized throughout the region because the storm hit on a weekend, side-stepping commuter traffic.

Operators of ski areas in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine were beside themselves with glee over the early windfall of a snowfall.

"There are a lot of happy people here today," said Jim Costello, vice president of brand management for the Sunday River ski resort in Maine, who said more than 30 inches had fallen over the mountain by Sunday morning. "I've been in the business 15 years and I've never seen this much snow this early in the season."

In Boston, John Caplice, 43, who had spent hours shoveling out his car on Sunday — breaking up his shoveling regimen with "a big Irish breakfast" — said he had discovered an upside.

"People generally tend to say hello during snowstorms," said Mr. Caplice, a photographer, "and they ignore you the rest of the year."



Copyright © 2003 The New York Times Company