A winter storm warning remains in effect until 1 a.m. Thursday, and "light wintry precipitation" should continue until the evening, according to the National Weather Service .
Logan Airport started the day at a crawling pace as crews manning the snow plows and de-icing trucks tried to keep up with the rate of snowfall. But that wasn’t the only challenge they faced. Unlike the last storm when the snow was light and fluffy, this time it was wet and heavy, making it difficult to move.
“I would rather see 17 inches of light fluffy snow then 8 inches of heavy wet snow,” said MassPort Director of Aviation Ed Freni. “The wet snow is problematic because it sticks to the fuselage of the airplane, so it takes a little bit more time for the airlines to decontaminate the airline with their de-icing fluid.”
For a few hours midmorning, the rate of snowfall was so intense, planes had only a four to five minute window after de-icing to take off. Because of this, some flights even got canceled after passengers had already boarded. One of those passengers is Paolo Bandini. He’s trying to get to St. Louis.
“At the gate, we were ready to push back and then the snow really ramped up, and they said they were going to hold on for five moments, and then clearly at that point it wasn’t going to happen after that because it got worse,” Bandini said.
More than half of all flights scheduled to depart from Logan airport Wednesday were canceled. As the snow let up in the afternoon, passengers were hopeful they’d make it to their destinations. Pat Peak and her husband from central New Hampshire are hoping to get to New Orleans.
“My poor husband from California — just this weather has been killing him," she said. "You know what its been like this winter. Driving people crazy.”
Unfortunately, the winter is not over yet. The forecast says more snow is coming, soon.
