Cape Bears Brunt Of Major Winter Storm

FALMOUTH, MA — The winter storm that’s walloped eastern Massachusetts has hit the Cape and islands especially hard.

More than 2 feet of snow had fallen in some parts of the state by 12:30 p.m. Monday, with several more inches predicted during the afternoon. Hurricane-force winds battered much of the coastline.

Over 285,000 Massachusetts utility customers were without electricity at the time due to downed power lines. Most of the homes and businesses in the dark were on Cape Cod.

At 1 p.m., 149,000 customers there of utility Eversource had no electricity, the company reported – 82% of all its customers within the Cape’s 15 towns. In places like Chatham, Falmouth, Provincetown and Truro, the outage rates were close to 100%.

Across its eastern Massachusetts service area, Eversource was reporting 238,000 customers in the dark, or about 19% of its regional total. Another major utility, National Grid, reported 54,000 customers affected.

The heaviest snowfall totals – up to 30 inches – are forecast in southeastern Massachusetts, the Cape and islands. Howling winds have compounded the blizzard conditions, with reported gusts of 72 mph in Chatham, 77 mph in Wellfleet and 83 mph on Nantucket.