Storm brings high winds, snow to New England

BOSTON (AP) - A little more than a week after a massive snowstorm hit New England, another storm brought several inches of snow and strong winds to parts of the Northeast on Sunday, the National Weather Service said.

Coastal parts of southern New England were expected to see the brunt of the storm, including Cape Cod and Nantucket. Barnstable, Mass. saw about 5 inches before the storm tapered off later Sunday. Boston was likely to escape the worst of it, said Bill Simpson, a meteorologist for the weather service in Taunton, but Mayor Thomas Menino said crews pretreated roads Saturday for the snow that was expected.

Much of northern Maine received more than 6 inches of snow by Sunday, and a blizzard warning was in effect until Monday afternoon for eastern and northern sections of the state, with 6 to 10 inches of snow expected in some areas.

The strong winds, not heavy snow, caused the blizzard conditions, said meteorologist Ken Wallingford in the weather service's Caribou, Maine, office. Sustained winds of 20-30 mph with gusts up to 50 mph blew the light, fluffy snow that was already on the ground, creating low visibility, possible whiteout conditions and dangerous driving conditions.

"We're not looking at copious amounts of snow," he said. "The big news is going to be the wind."

The storm wasn't expected to be on the scale of last week's, which dumped 2 to 3 feet of snow and knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.

In New York, a high-wind warning was issued for the Tappan Zee Bridge in the Hudson Valley, reducing the speed limit to 35 mph and prohibiting empty trailers and motorcycles on the bridge. All trucks, trailers, and buses were advised to consider an alternate route. But snow was not expected in upstate New York or the Berkshires, according to the weather service.

Cox Media Group