Massachusetts residents woke up Monday to a blanket of fresh powder from a massive weekend winter storm that is expected to keep battering the region into the night.
With well over a foot of snow dropped since Sunday, many Bay Staters are breaking out the shovels and snowblowers in the bitter cold for the second or third time. Some towns and cities could see close to 2 feet of snow by the end of the storm.
A man clears snow from the sidewalk with a snow blower behind a large snow bank on Thoreau Street in Concord in the morning following the first major snowstorm of the year. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
The snow is expected to stop falling between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m, according to meteorologist Danielle Noyes. Temperatures will remain in the teens and 20s before plummeting late Monday. Wind chills as low as 10 degrees below zero will blow in and kick off what promises to be a frigid week.
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Communities in Essex County and Worcester County saw the highest snow totals heading into Monday, according to reports sent to the National Weather Service in Boston. In some towns, roughly 20 inches had fallen by late Sunday.
For southern New Englanders, hazardous conditions remain. A winter storm warning is in place through 8 p.m., and another 1 to 5 inches of snow is in the forecast. Roads are expected to be slick, and drivers should exercise extreme caution, forecasters said.
Blanketed by 18 inches of snow, Logan airport was essentially at a standstill Monday morning with more than 500 flights canceled.
Ed Freni, director of aviation at the Massachusetts Port Authority, said people should check the status of their flights before heading to the airport. He added that operations were expected to ramp back up by around 2 p.m. Monday.
Beyond southern New England, the powerful storm inflicted its might upon two-thirds of the nation, bringing tons of snow, freezing rain and jaw-dropping wind chills. States far less accustomed to the perils of winter weather fell in its path, causing widespread disruptions.
Thousands of flights were canceled. Cars slid off roads. Nearly a million power outages were logged across the South Sunday night, NPR reported.
The storm dumped snow rapidly, falling at a rate of nearly 4 inches per hour across some swaths of New England by 4 p.m. Sunday, according to meteorologists with 1DegreeOutside.
In Maine, Federal Aviation Administration officials said a private business jet crashed as it took off from Bangor International Airport Sunday night. Seven of the eight people on board died, and a surviving crew member sustained serious injuries, FAA officials said.
At least one storm-death related death has been reported in Massachusetts. A 51-year-old woman died at around 2 p.m. Sunday after she was hit by a plow truck while walking in the MBTA’s Norwood Central station parking lot, transit police said in a statement. Her husband, 47, was also injured and is expected to live.
About 850 customers in the state were without power Monday morning, according to maps from the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. But by the early afternoon, that total was more than halved. In most places, the snowfall was powdery and wasn’t expected to down trees.
However, Gov. Maura Healey warned at a press conference Sunday afternoon that residents in coastal cities and towns should brace for the wettest precipitation Monday and, as a result, potential power disruptions.
Vehicles plowed in overnight, as Cambridge emerges from its first major snowstorm of 2026. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
Healey and other government officials urged people to stay off the roads. Schools and businesses across the state closed for the day. The governor asked all non-essential state employees to work from home on Monday. State Highway Commissioner Jonathan Gulliver said heavy winds and snow drifts would make it “very difficult” to clear roads through Monday.
Phil Eng, the head of the MBTA, said Sunday the agency was keeping trains running overnight to keep tracks as clear as possible. The state setup 40 warming shelters across the commonwealth, according to MEMA Director Dawn Brantley. Their collective capacity is around 2,000 people.
This article was originally published on January 26, 2026.
