Snow Hammers Coast

Groton Utilities reported a short power outage on one street and police saw few accidents as widespread, blowing snow continued, with accumulation of 10 to 18 inches expected by morning.

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning and coastal flood advisory for Groton, and predicted snow would fall until 4 a.m.  The weather service forecast winds tonight of between 28 and 33 mph, and gusts as high as 60 mph. Snow was falling at a rate of an inch an hour on the Connecticut coast between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., according to the weather service.

Groton Utilities reported power was out on Chapman Street from 5:30 until 6:30 p.m. Amtrak halted all trains between Boston and New York until further notice.

"I'm expecting that we'll absolutely lose our electricity," said Carolyn Greer, who lives on Fort Hill and shopped earlier in the day at Big Y. Her children, ages 16, 15 and 9, go through a gallon of milk a day.

"I'm picking up deli meat, two gallons of milk, and anything I can cook on my woodstove," she said.

Bill Lewis, highway engineer for the City of Groton Department of Public Works, said city police called the department Monday morning to deal with the initial glaze on roads.

Plows pretreated the roads with salt, and he planned to call nine drivers in later today.

"We've got a long night ahead of us, it looks like," Lewis said.

Groton Town Police reported less than a dozen accidents, and no road closures as of early afternoon.

Bob Congdon walked his two dogs along Sound Breeze Avenue in Groton Long Point. He said snow along the coast varies, but added, "I'll tell you this much. When snow is this fine and it's from the north, it's usually an indicator of at least a foot."

Steven Sheehan, who lives along the Thames River, said he wasn't concerned about the forecast.

"They're always wrong," he said. Sheehan said he grew up in upstate New York, where snow plows were the rule and school didn't close "unless we had six feet."

"I bet we wake up and there's an inch on the ground," he said. "But then, I'm always wrong, too."