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The first of what will be three storms this week passed through this past weekend, dumping several inches in the area.
Winchester saw about 5.4 inches of snow fall from Feb. 8 to Feb. 9, according to the National Weather Service.
“It’s nice when you get an overnight storm because there are less people on the roads,” said Department of Public Works Director Robert LaBossiere. “But there were a lot of areas this time around where people parked on the streets and it was hard to get a plow by.”
LaBossiere said the downtown was the biggest problem area followed by Elmwood Avenue, Vine Street and Charles Road. He called those areas “tough.”
“With the cars on Charles Road, it was hard to get the plows by,” he said. “Those hills, with the cars parked on the side…it was extremely difficult.”
LaBossiere said everyone was out on the roads during the overnight storm. Although there were issues with equipment the last storm, he said this time things were “relatively good.”
The latest storm may just have depleted Winchester’s annual $500,000 snow budget. LaBossiere said by the end of January, Winchester had already spent 35% of its snow salary budget and 57% of its expense budget. And that was all before the Feb. 8-9 storm.
The DPW director said with more snow expected Feb. 13, he’s already reached out to the town and asked for the budget to be overspent.
Snow and ice budgets are the only line item in a budget that’s normally allowed to go into a deficit, given that there is no “normal” snowfall in a year. Cities and towns are then allowed to apply for reimbursement to the state for those budgets.
More snow
The snow could start again early Thursday morning and last throughout the afternoon. Forecasters say the storm could start out with snow and change into rain and ice.
A third storm could start late Feb. 15 and possibly run through the entire weekend into early Monday, Feb. 17 in time for Presidents Day.
LaBossiere has got some advice for residents, not only with the upcoming storms, but throughout winter.
“When we get snow, please don’t park on the roads,” he said. “Remember that trucks need space to get by. When we have snow on the road from snowblowers or [contractors cleaning] driveways, it makes our days and nights much harder.”
