Battered Boston bracing for next round of snow

The Blizzard of 2015 turned into Big Dig 2015 in Boston and across much of New England on Wednesday as shovel-toting residents greeted by bright sunshine began the arduous task of returning normalcy to the snow-encased region.

The 34.5 inches that fell in Worcester, Mass., made this week's snowstorm the biggest in the city's history. The 24.6 inches measured in Boston made it the city's biggest January storm on record.

And more could be on the way.

"It looks like we could have a rollicking weather pattern over the next couple weeks," AccuWeather meteorologist Joe Sobel.

The first round will be Friday, when Sobel said 2-4 inches — "just a nuisance" — are likely. Another storm is setting up for Sunday night and into Monday. Sobel said it was too soon to estimate what that would bring.

"Neither storm looks anything like what they are digging out of now," Sobel said. "But looking at the weather pattern it certainly would not surprise me if they see another major storm or two down the road."

Most Boston area school districts remained closed Wednesday, and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh urged residents to stay off roads as much as possible to allow access for plows and emergency vehicles. Walsh said he expected the city to be fully operational Thursday.

He shrugged off concerns of more storms.

"If there is snow on Friday, we will be out there," Walsh said Wednesday. "We will rebound. We live in Boston and we have to expect snow."

The region did slowly come to life Wednesday as roads began to open, flights resumed and trains, buses and subways ran on limited schedules.

Still, the relentless force of Tuesday's blizzard stunned even winter-hardened New Englanders. The snow was accompanied by wind gusts in excess of 70 mph. The entire island of Nantucket lost power for hours as the mighty storm blasted an area from eastern Long Island to Maine.

In Marshfield, Mass., the storm punched out a 40-to-50-foot section of a seawall. In Newport, R.I., it toppled a 110-foot replica of a Revolutionary War sailing vessel in dry dock, breaking its mast and puncturing its hull.

Lunenburg, Hudson, and Auburn Mass., each recorded 3 feet of snow, topping the storm's records from the National Weather Service. In Portland, Maine (23.8 inches) and Providence (19.1 inches), it was their fourth- biggest snowfall on record, according to the weather service.

"I had to jump out the window because the door only opens one way," Chuck Beliveau said in the hard-hit central Massachusetts town of Westborough. "I felt like a kid again."

Two deaths on Long Island were tied to the storm by police: a 17-year-old who crashed into a light pole while snow-tubing and an 83-year-old man with dementia who was found dead in his backyard.

In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio fended off criticism that the city went too far in closing streets and public transportation in advance of the storm, which dealt the city a glancing blow. Still, Central Park was hit with a healthy 10-inch snowfall.

The storm "was real, and it was as big as it was projected to be, but it moved eastward, and thank God for that," de Blasio said in explaining the extraordinary precautions taken by the city. "So the bottom line is we got lucky."

The mayor said he would rather err on the side of caution than leave the city strapped. "Would you rather be ahead of the action or behind?" he asked. "Would you rather be safe or unsafe?"

Contributing: G. Jeffrey MacDonald in Boston; Doyle Rice and Greg Toppo in McLean, Va.; Associated Press