Surprise April Snow Paralyzes New England

End-of-April showers turned into a snowstorm that stunned New England with up to 21 inches of heavy, wet snow today, snarling traffic for motorists who had removed snow tires and leaving thousands without electricity.

Two days before the storm, Concord, N.H., had warmed into the 70s and flowers had started blooming.

New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu ordered state offices closed until noon to reduce the number of people getting in the way of road crews, and some schools were closed in Rhode Island.

“It’s an absolutely awful sight. We’re bearing with it as well as we can,” police dispatcher Janet Bagley said in Foster, R.I. But she added, “It’s actually very, very pretty out there.”

Record in Worcester

Heavier snowfall amounts included 21 inches in north-central Massachusetts at Ashburnham and Lunenburg; 18 inches at Francestown, N.H.; 17 inches at Mont Vernon, N.H.; 15 inches at Burrillville and Glocester, R.I., and 13 inches at Brassua, Maine.

Worcester in east-central Massachusetts received at least 17 inches, the most snow on record so late in the season and the largest spring snowstorm on record.

Power lines felled by the weight of the snow or falling branches left about 40,000 people without power this morning in the Worcester, Framingham and Merrimack Valley areas of Massachusetts, utility officials said.

In Rhode Island, about 7,000 customers of Blackstone Valley Electric Co. were without power for up to an hour Tuesday night, and scattered outages continued today.

At least half a dozen radio stations in New Hampshire were knocked off the air.

The airport at Worcester, Mass., was closed today and more than 150 snowplows were called out. The city’s snow-removal budget already had a deficit of at least $1 million, and the storm was expected to cost an additional $50,000 to $60,000.