New England Public Radio

The Week Ahead On Beacon Hill

A new governor facing a midyear budget crisis, a slow-starting Massachusetts House, and a nasty spate of winter weather have conspired to get the 2015 legislative session off to a glacial beginning. Waves of snowstorms have forced widespread cancellations and postponements, including activity on Beacon Hill, while bringing portions of the MBTA system to a literal halt in many circumstances.

With more snow in the forecast the House last Thursday preemptively scheduled a session for Friday, aware that it may not be possible to hold their usual Monday session. It was the kind of scheduling maneuver that might not have happened weeks ago, but it appears lawmakers are adapting to the reality that Mother Nature is making it tough to even get to Beacon Hill.

In most years, governors would have filed their annual budget proposals by now but new governors are afforded until early March to present their plans, and Governor Charlie Baker plans to file his on March 4th. Baker’s team is just beginning to fully focus on fiscal 2016, after spending the first four weeks in the Corner Office hammering out a plan to close a $768 million deficit in the budget Baker inherited from Governor Deval Patrick and which was written largely by Democratic legislative leaders. With less than five months left in fiscal 2015, the pressure is on House and Senate leaders now to move their own version of Baker’s budget-balancing bill (H 49) through the Legislature and back to Baker’s desk. House lawmakers are expected on Wednesday to take up Baker’s package of budget solutions, which includes a corporate tax amnesty program aimed at pulling in overdue taxes from scofflaws without forcing them to pay penalties to the state. The bill appears headed for floor consideration without a hearing to allow the public to comment on it.

For Susan Kaplan’s conversation with Matt Murphy about the week ahead on Beacon Hill, click the audio player above.

A Break For Western Mass., But Much Of New England Continues ‘Juno’ Cleanup

TRAVEL BANS END IN MASS., CONN.

Updated at 11:28 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2015.

The National Weather Service reports Worcester, Mass., saw between two and three feet of snow, but totals were far less in the western parts of the state and western Connecticut.

At 2 p.m. Tuesday, a statewide travel ban in Connecticut was lifted.

In Massachusetts, the ban was lifted for the state’s four western counties around noon, except for the Mass Turnpike, which remained closed to non-essential traffic. Statewide, the restrictions ended at midnight.

FOR ASSISTANCE

For emergency services, call 9-1-1.

Massachusetts’ 2-1-1 system is billed as the “primary telephone call center during times of emergency and is able to provide information on emergency resources such as shelter locations.”

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency (MEMA) offers tips on how to stay safe during a storm, including remembering to dig out your flashlights (with extra batteries), to fill up your gas tank and to keep your exhaust pipe clear when cleaning off your car.

FORECASTS

CLOSINGS

Some schools in the region planned to either remain closed Wednesday or have a delayed start.

WWLP in Chicopee keeps up a comprehensive list of weather-related closings in western Mass., including community centers, government offices and schools.

Vermont Public Radio has a list of closings. WMUR offers the same for New Hampshire and NBC Connecticut lists school closings in the Nutmeg state.

PLANES, TRAINS AND BUSES

Boston’s Logan Airport reopens at 6 a.m. Wednesday. NBC Connecticut reports flights will also slowly return to Bradley Airport between Hartford and Springfield.

Amtrak trains will run again starting Wednesday in New England, although some routes — including the Springfield Shuttle — will operate “with some reduced frequencies.”

Springfield-based Peter Pan bus lines returns to regular service Wednesday, as does the Pioneer Valley Transit Authority.

In eastern Massachusetts, the MBTA resumes service Wednesday.

UTILITIES

Western Massachusetts’ largest utility says it reported no power outages during this latest snowstorm. WMECO spokesperson Priscilla Ress said as a result, about 50 workers were sent to eastern Massachusetts Tuesday morning to assist their sister company NSTAR in restoring electricity to thousands of customers who lost power during the storm.

“As soon as we got the all clear here in western Massachusetts, that’s when we decided to send our crews,” Ress said. “They’re going to the coastal part, they’re going to around Marshfield and Scituate.”

In Connecticut, United Illuminating reports no outages among its customers, while Connecticut Light & Power says 3500 customers lost power due to high winds.

“Some customers lost power early on and they were restored,” CL&P spokesperson Frank Poirot said. “And then new outages kept coming up as the storm continued to move through Connecticut.”

Poirot said the outages were concentrated around Middletown and Greenwich. CL&P’s website showed only a handful of remaining outages as of Tuesday evening.

State House News Service and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Forecaster: Expect Dangerously Cold Weather In First Full Week Of New Year

Forecasters are warning a major arctic front sweeping across New England this first full week of 2015 will bring the coldest temperatures in nearly a year.

The National Weather Service’s Glenn Field says those temperatures, gusty winds and potential snow squalls could produce life-threatening conditions.

“You could actually have frostbite occur in thirty minutes or less if you have unprotected skin,” says Field.

The forecast calls for temperatures to fall to as low as 10 degrees below zero, with the wind chill dropping to 30 below.

“So make sure you bundle up any kids waiting for the school buses, homeless people need to be gotten into shelters,” says Field.

The last time the temperature hit zero or below in our area was early last March.

 

Study: Maple Syrup Production Declines After A Big Seed Year

This coming season should be a good one for maple syrup producers in New England.

That’s the word from Joshua Rapp, who co-authored a Tufts study on the best way to predict syrup production.

“Well 2014 – this year – was a low seed year, so we expect that the trees should have plenty of sugar left over in their stores so that the sap will have a fairly high sugar count …and we expect it to be a pretty good syrup season in 2015.”

Rapp and his co-author found the most valuable metric to predict syrup yield is how many seeds the trees produce during the summer before.  They say weather is a factor, but a less important one. The research appears in the journal “Forest Ecology and Management.”

Combination Of Snow And Ice Can Cause Roof Damage

With another storm heading towards the region Thursday night, homeowners have more than just icy roads to worry about. The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather advisory for southern New Hampshire and western Massachusetts. But this time, it’s predicting a mix of sleet and freezing rain. Which, on top of roofs already piled high with snow, can cause leaks and in some cases entire roofs to collapse. Brian Rudd is the owner of Vista Home Improvement in Springfield.

“If you have three feet of snow on your roof with a lot of moisture content in there, the weight is unbelievable,” Rudd says. “You could have the weight of three cars easily on your roof when you add up all of the cubic snow that are actually on that roof.”

Rudd says he’s been getting calls about leaky roofs almost every hour, and he thinks there will be even more problems after Thursday night’s predicted ice and rain storm. He says his advice is for homeowners to remove the snow now, instead of waiting until something goes wrong.

Climate Scientist Michael Rawlins on How Arctic Melt Could Affect Weather in New England

Within the last few weeks the level of Arctic sea ice fell to its lowest-ever recorded level, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. New England Public Radio’s Henry Epp spoke with Michael Rawlins, manager of the Climate Systems Research Center at UMass Amherst about how climate change is affecting Arctic ice, and what that means for weather patterns here in the northeast United States. Rawlins says it’s something to worry about, beyond the arctic.