Peabody Crews Clear Away Surprisingly Severe Snowstorm

Peabody was inundated again with more than a foot of snow in the latest storm to slam the region Friday morning. Tallies from the National Weather Service were around 13 inches, while numerous readers across the city reported measuring between 15 and 17 inches of snow.

The Tanner City, along with the rest of the North Shore, was caught off-guard by the severity of the snowstorm, as forecast predictions right through Thursday still only called for 4-6 inches of snow at most.

Public Services Director Bob Langley said the storm turned out to be a surprisingly tough one to deal with. He said it wasn't until Friday morning, even around 7:30, that the heaviest snow started falling.

"It just kept snowing and snowing," he said. "There were some whiteout conditions at times."

School in Peabody was canceled for the day, although the decision wasn't made until about 5:30 a.m. -- a slew of communities in the area called in closures around the same time.

Langley said most of the private contractors that plow for the city were called in at 2 a.m., putting 100 vehicles on the roads.

City crews were out since 4:30 p.m. on Thursday and by 24 hours later, the major cleanup effort was ready scale back as roads were mostly clear to allow safe travel, said Langley.

The storm had also petered out earlier Friday afternoon.

Langley called for a parking ban around 5 p.m. on Thursday and it was finally lifted a full day later, allowing residents to park their cars on the street again.

He said he wasn't aware of any major issues in regard to plowing -- only six or so cars that were in the way of plows needed to be towed and several more tickets were handed out for violation of the ban.

"Again, I think the parking ban worked very well," he said (with cooperation between the police, public services and the public, that is).

He said plow crews would be out Friday night to salt and sand and work on the city's schools and sidewalks over the weekend, along with any other areas in need of attention.

"We'd be glad not to see anymore snow," Langley said. The overall snowfall in Peabody for the year just climbed up to about 60 inches after Friday.

Once again, residents are asked to lend a hand as they are able to shovel out fire hydrants in their neighborhoods along with sidewalks in front of their homes.