Monday’s record-setting snowstorm in the Northeast prompted widespread shutdowns, left thousands without power and led a Boston paper to pause printing as the heaviest snowfall accumulated along the East Coast.
The storm, which The Weather Channel named Winter Storm Hernando, carved a path of record totals from New Jersey to southeastern Massachusetts. Rhode Island saw snowfall levels ranging from 30 to 37 inches. At Rhode Island T.F. Green International Airport, officials recorded 37.9 inches, the heaviest snowstorm in 121 years, according to The Weather Channel.
In Massachusetts, the peak total reached 33.7 inches in Whitman. The snow fell so quickly that for the first time in its 153-year-old history, The Boston Globe called off the printing of its daily newspaper.
While the Globe has faced labor strikes in the 1950s and 1960s and even had a limited run during another historic blizzard in 1978, the paper determined the risk was too great for staff and drivers to deliver Tuesday’s edition, according to The Associated Press.
This printing pause is unprecedented in the paper’s history, but it carries less weight in today’s digital-first world. Readers today rely much less on newsprint for their news — a 2025 Pew Research Center Survey found that only 7% of U.S. adults frequently got their news from printed newspapers or magazines, compared to the 56% who said they regularly got their news from a smartphone, computer or tablet.
The Globe said that print subscribers can look forward to getting Tuesday’s paper delivered on Wednesday.
Boston’s snow total measured 17.1 inches, according to the National Weather Service’s measurement at Logan Airport, putting the city over 60 inches for the winter, the first above-average snowfall season in four years, according to CBS News.
Over 250,000 people are without power in Massachusetts as of Tuesday morning, according to USA Today’s data.
“This will be a severe storm that presents significant risks to public safety,” Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said in a statement before the storm hit. “We need everyone to take it seriously.”
Eastern records vs. a Western drought
While the Northeast is digging out of snow banks, other parts of the country, particularly in the West, are facing a very different winter. Nationally, snowpack levels are hovering at just 55% of normal, according to OnTheSnow.
In Utah, snowpack levels hit record lows on Feb. 1. Kevin Perry, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Utah, told NBC News the state is in “uncharted territory.”
Despite a recent storm in the Intermountain West, Utah’s snowpack remains well below average. Experts from the National Resources Conservation Service noted that it is rare for nearly every region in the West to face snowfall deficits in the same year, NBC News reported.