March roars in with heavy snow forecast

Published: Monday, March 2, 2009
By Rachael Scarborough King, Register Staff

NEW HAVEN — Forecasters predicted up to a foot of snow would begin blanketing the area late Sunday night and make driving treacherous for this morning’s commute.

The snow was expected to begin falling before midnight Sunday and continue overnight, WTNH meteorologist Matt Scott said.

The New Haven area could see 6 to 10 inches, Scott said, with heavier snowfall in the eastern part of the state.

“This has the potential to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, storm of this season,” he said. “We’re looking at a potential of a foot of snow in some areas.”

The storm moved across the eastern part of the country Sunday, dumping on normally snow-free states, including Alabama, Mississippi and Georgia. Up to 13 inches of snow was expected in the New York City area, according to the Associated Press.

Scott said there could be some further accumulation today, but most of the snow will pile up overnight.

“By the time the morning commute is done, the heavy snow is likely to be done (falling), but by then the damage has been done,” he said. “The rush-hour commute Monday morning is going to be a bear.”

At the East Haven Stop & Shop Sunday, several shoppers said they had heard that a storm was on its way.

Mary Lypen of West Haven said the snow seemed “out of nowhere” with the recent spring-like weather.

“It was already starting to get warm last week,” she said. “I thought it was over.”

Her friend, Kimberly Inglis of New Haven, said she had decided to stock up on groceries.

“I just kind of bought dinner for tonight and tomorrow, just in case,” she said.

New Haven resident Dan Okin said that he had seen enough snow this season.

“It’s March — I was kind of hoping it was done, to be completely honest,” he said. “But, you know, nature’s a little unpredictable.”

For some, the snow has been a boon this winter. Donna Hall, membership chairwoman of the New Haven Ski Club, said that her club’s members don’t frequent Connecticut ski areas, but the conditions have been excellent across New England.

“It’s been really pretty awesome,” Hall said. “I think that the amount of powder that we had this year was more than we had last year, which was really nice skiing ’cause for quite a few years there we were skiing on ice.”

WTNH’s Scott said that for forecasters, the snowfall counts as a spring storm, since the “meteorological winter” ends Feb. 28.

“I hope you haven’t put your shovel away yet,” he said.