Around 7:30 am this morning, the Southborough Police Department posted about the dangerous whiteout conditions caused by today’s storm. It included the request/warning:
If you do not need to be on the road, please stay home! If you do not have an AWD or 4WD vehicle- you will not be able to make it to your destination.
Shortly after that post, they added:
Turnpike Road (RT 9 Westbound) from Central Street to White Bagley Road is down to one lane of travel, due to tree limb debris and wires down.
Below is the full original announcement from Facebook with more details and safety tips “If travel is unavoidable”:
Current conditions in Southborough:
Wind is causing white out conditions with very low visibility across roadways. Snow drifts and heavy snow are causing roadways to accumulate thick, wet snow and become slick. Tree limbs falling on wires are causing some power outages scattered throughout the area (currently a limb fell on wires along Route 9 westbound- causing a power outage).
DPW, National Grid, and Mass DOT are out on the road to handle power outages and road conditions.
** If you do not need to be on the road, please stay home! If you do not have an AWD or 4WD vehicle- you will not be able to make it to your destination.
If travel is unavoidable (for instance working in emergency health care), please be extremely cautious. Before traveling, make sure your vehicle equipment is functioning correctly. Check your wipers and gas and washer fluid levels. Keep extra clothing, blankets, a shovel, some sand, an ice scraper, and some food in the vehicle. If stranded, remain inside the vehicle (unless an immediate danger exists) and call 911.
Please give plow drivers space to plow- do not travel too close to them and do not try to pass them.Southborough Police, Fire, and DPW are fully staffed today and available to handle emergency calls. Please be prepared for a delay to non-emergency calls.
We will keep you updated as the storm progresses through the area.
Thank you.
Reminder, you can follow the SPD on Facebook here and the DPW here.
The National Weather Service appears to be showing Southborough is no longer projected to get up to 24″ of snow, but we could still get in the neighborhood of 12-18″.
The 48 mph wind gusts are forecast for a few more hours, then gradually reducing to around 30 mph around 7:00 pm. While the snowfall should wind down by 9:00 pm, gusting winds won’t get down to under 20 mph until around 5:00 – 6:00 am tomorrow.
