The “Blizzard of 2026” swamped the Northeastern United States from midday Sunday into Monday night. In Massachusetts, this snow began around 7:15 pm and fully covered Massachusetts by 10:00 pm. The snowstorm broke records on its way up the east coast, and marked the first storm to be classified as a blizzard since 2016 in many states. In particular, these records were being broken in Rhode Island and southern Massachusetts. This was recognized as Rhode Island’s biggest storm in history, dumping a whopping 37.9 inches of snow. Providence’s close Massachusetts neighbors, the city of Fall River, received about 33 inches of snow, coming out near the top of Massachusetts towns.
On the South Shore of Massachusetts, snow totals were piling upon a past storm, leading to a multitude of drifts that suggest even more snow than was actually received. The South Shore’s conditions were of extreme severity, and forced Governor Maura Healey to enforce a travel ban on Monday and Tuesday. Because of this travel ban, as well as the overall conditions of roads, many public and private schools were closed Monday, Tuesday, and even Wednesday. Other towns, such as Fall River, even extended this closure until the following Monday, meaning they did not have school for an entire week.
The amount of snow has fostered many different opinions among the residents of Massachusetts. For many, the snow has become unbearable, and they feel that summer can not come soon enough. Anybody who had to shovel at all during the storm can attest to this, such as Hingham High student Benji Izmirlic, who was quoted saying, “I absolutely hate snow. I really wish this global warming thing would kick in so I don’t have to shovel anymore”. Although support of global warming seems a bit extreme, Benji, like many others, is clearly ready for warmer weather.
However, others feel the snow gave them a needed extension to their February break. Many towns on the South Shore of Massachusetts dedicated from February 14th to February 22nd as their annual breaks. With the snow days, Hingham extended this break to February 25th. Hingham High student James Slankas was one of the many who were happy with this snow, saying, “It was nice to have the extra days to rest”.
Hingham in total received around 21 inches of snow, however this was piled on existing snow, creating a large amount of pileup on the sides of the roads. This pileup creates tough driving conditions, coupled with ice that is created from rising and falling temperatures that melts and freezes snow into slippery and dangerous ice.
