Winter Storm Stella News: Public Schools Close, Mass Transportation Reduced on Tuesday
The state of Massachusetts – particularly in Boston – brace for the blizzard brought by a late-season nor'easter that forced public schools to close and mass transportation services to be reduced on Tuesday.
More than a hundred schools will not operate for the entire day on March 14 amid the intense blizzard expected to make landfall and could bring up to 18 inches of snow in the Greater Boston area.
According to Weather.com, Winter Storm Stella will bring the most intense snowstorm of the season to Boston and New York. For comparison, when Winter Storm Niko hit Boston on Feb. 9, the blizzard caused roads to have 9.4 inches of snow, which is about 50 percent of what is expected to be seen in the city this Tuesday.
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In a media briefing on Monday, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker addressed the public and advised everyone that it is best to stay indoors. "Travel tomorrow will be significantly impacted by snow-covered roads, and rapidly falling snow, and heavy winds. We are urging the public to please stay off the roads unless absolutely necessary and to take public transportation whenever possible," Baker said (via Boston Globe).
On the other hand, Boston Mayor Marty Walsh has also taken note of the fact that having the nor'easter make landfall on a weekday makes it a bit more difficult to handle.
In a statement made on Monday, Walsh was quoted as saying: "In 2015, most of our storms happened on the weekend, so it was easier for us to manage the storm. We had Friday, Saturday, Sunday to clean up after the storm. This happens at rush hour. So it's a difficult storm."
Meanwhile, in terms of public transport, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has already posted a 'Winter Storm Info' bulletin stating that all ferry operations have been canceled for Tuesday while Mattapan Trolleys will be replaced by shuttle bus services.
As for the train system, the MBTA has announced that they are running at a Blue Service Level which suspends "about one third" of the entire operation. This also means that express trains are required to make local stops that translate to 15 to 20 minutes of delay. For people who badly need to travel, they can check here which train schedules are canceled.
