Boston/Portsmouth/Portland snow - Need Dfrost and others advice
 

We are scheduled to land in Boston at 3:30 on Monday, pick up a rental car (intermediate SUV - my husband has driven in snow and ice many times), and head to Portsmouth for the night and on to Portland for the remainder of the week. With the upcoming storm, I'm wondering if we need to change our plans. The snowfall in Boston appears to be under 2" for Sunday and Monday, stopping completely at 3pm on Monday. The snowfall in Portsmouth Sunday-Monday looks like 12-18". Will we have trouble getting to Portsmouth? Our goal was (is?) to get to Petey's Lobster for dinner and then to our hotel in Portsmouth (just off the interstate) for the night. The plan is to make our way to Portland on Tuesday. I have until Saturday afternoon to cancel our Portsmouth hotel and Monday to cancel Boston.

Hoping Dfrost and others might offer some guidance/advice/ideas. Thanks very much!

tracilee, I have seen forecasts of a foot or more snow for Boston starting on Sunday, late morning / early afternoon. Many airlines are cancelling flights and offering free changes. I would do some more googling to see what you find. Nowhere have I heard only two inches.

gomiki (on Cape Cod where the forecast is for 6-12, or more depending where you are on the Cape).

Wow, gomiki. I am looking at the weather app on my phone and it still says .85" total snow for Sunday and .55" total on Monday. I just checked the National Weather Service and it is in line with what you are saying - shoot. We thought we could just stay the night in Boston if need be. We need to have a new alternate plan with the snow in Boston! Thank you very much!

your weather app may be displaying total liquid precipitation (amount of melted snow = water). Typical ratios are in the 10 to 12 to one range, so 0.85" water = 8-10" snow on Sunday. Chances of substantial snow are 100%. Exact totals are hard to predict this far in advance, but snow is a certainty.

Chances are very very high your flight will be cancelled come Monday. If this were my trip I'd take advantage the airline's rebooking policy NOW to rebook for a day later, or preferably 2 if you have schedule flexibility. If you wait until Monday you'll be behind all the other Monday passengers already rebooked on Tue or Wed flights.

Planes will begin to fly again as soon as conditions on the ground are safe, but it often takes a few days to unsnarl the backups, reposition planes, etc.

If there is truly going to be 12 - 18 inches of snow. No I would not plan on continuing with those plans. I know you say you (hub) can drive in snow, but even locals, mostly would stay home if really a foot and a half had fallen. At least until snow plows have a chance to get out, etc.

(i live in Seattle now but used to live in Vermont and New Hampshire)

Agree... I live in the NE and we get frequent snow. This winter that means measurable snow 2-3 times every week it seems.

Our rule of thumb is stay off the roads if it's actively snowing. The plow crews here do a great job keeping roads clear but at snowfall rates of 1" + an hour even the best maintained roads can get horrible quickly.

Once the snow stops, driving lanes on major roads will be cleared pretty quickly, but the same may not apply to all exit ramps, & county or local roads. With a storm like this crews will have been hard at work all night, and we need to give them time to do their job. Every storm we see cars in the ditch, and lots of rear enders. If the temps are above about 25F then the sun + salt + sand should clear most roads pretty well by the next day. If it's colder, then ice/compressed snow can persist for days.

I appreciate all of these comments - thank you very much.

J62, that's an interesting thought on the precipitation amount as "melted snow". I guess that could be the case, yet it shows the expected inches of snow for the other cities. At any rate, this weather app on my phone appears to be totally wrong and I appreciate you telling me to look at other sites.

I think it's time to rethink this trip...or at least reschedule, as mentioned above. Thanks to all of you!!

If you would like to know if you made the right decision;

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/a...&type=arrivals

It will get more colorful as the weather system develops.

Your airline may very well reach out to offer to rebook at no charge for a flight for Tuesday or later if they haven't already done so to re-schedule for any flights departing tomorrow but that also depends on where your initial flight departs from. My daughter's partner was able to move a flight up to today from tomorrow to LaGuardia from Kansas City as she has been there since Sunday for business. The storm will be affecting the Midwest tonight into tomorrow.

Airlines are getting better at preplanning cancellations and rebooking as opposed to having zillions of people stranded in airports all over the place.

I'd be surprised if your flight hasn't been cancelled? But based on the current forecast, if you are able to get here at 3:30pm, the main roads (highways) should be clear by then. Snow is supposed to come to an end by Monday morning 6am-7am, so the crews have a good 8 hours to clear the roads.

Sorry, I haven¡t been checking US travel.
I agree with YK that I95 should be in decent shape. If the driving is decent then go anead with dinner at Petey's. It is open daily but can be crowded with a small parking lot. We have started goong to Ray's which is further down the road but I didn¡t check to see ifmit is open on mondays. I would gamble that Petey¡s plow driver gets their parking lot cleaned out as soon as possible. The side road from I95 to Petey,s should also be in good shape but they are residential roads and curvey. Make sure tires on rental are in good shape and that you have all wheel drive or at least front wheel drive.

There¡s a facebook group New Hampshire Eats where you might try asking road conditions to Petey,s. But there's the possibility employees can¡t make it in or they close due to weather.

if you don't make it to Petey’s onmyour first day, hope you can go before you return to Boston.

IMO the road conditions aren't that big a deal. If roads are impassible or really bad -- they would clear up in a day or two at most. Your biggest problem will be flights. All the majors have issued travel waivers -- that means they are letting anyone change/cancel their tickets at no cost. They ONLY do this when there is expected to be huge disruption to operations. It isn't just the areas hit by the brunt of the storm but even airports like LAX and SEA are impacted because of cancellations in the rest of the country.

Good luck.


Isn't there someplace warmer you'd like to visit ;)

Thanks dfrost, I was wondering about the roads to Petey’s. We’ve been there many, many times, often in the winter so know the route is somewhat rural and might not have plow priority. And you’re right about going on our way home - we usually go coming and going! I’m happy to hear about that Facebook page as we’re always open to new spots.

janisj, I know it’s weird to go to Maine in the winter but we got in the habit when my niece was playing basketball for Stony Brook and we’d go to her games, often in Massachusetts, NH and Maine. We’ve always been struck by the beauty of Maine. It can snow or rain one day and be clear blue sky the next. It’s a break from the dreary winter days in the PNW, although we’ve had a gorgeous January! But the lobsters are calling me😁

The current plan, assuming our flight isn’t canceled, is to stay in Boston tomorrow night if the roads look bad. We can pick up the car on Tuesday and head north at our leisure.

I really appreciate all the helpful suggestions, thank you!

Well, the weather gods have spoken...our flight just got cancelled. We'll try to rebook later this year. Thanks again for all your help!

Told ya . . . :(

At least you can change with no extra fees

janisj - yup, you did. And we are actually going to put the trip off, probably go in April, so the airline refunded our tickets.

good thing the airline settled the question. The southern NH and seacoast area got a lot,of snow and cleanup is taking longer. Monday it snowed again. We haven't had snow like this in years. My advice that interstates would be fine wasn,t good advice this time. Tuesday morning, today, plows are still working. My husband is plowing our driveway again.in Boston they have been skiing in the streets.
i hope April will be pretty with spring blooming bulbs and shrubs.

Wow, dfrost, I think we were lucky the airline cancelled. Sorry you’re having to deal with all this snow. We’re looking forward to rescheduling, whenever that might be!

Thanks for thr update. One word of caution about Boston in April I don't think you want to be there during the Boston Marathon. I made that mistake and it won't happen again.

PM, good point! Once, unbeknownst to us, we booked our return flight the evening of the marathon. The flight was packed which meant no chance of an upgrade, which we often get.

Thanks for the reminder.

My experience was worse. I was flying to Boston via DFW. My flight to DFW was delayed, causing me to miss my connection. The Boston flights were all sold out for the day, so I diverted to Hartford, CT. My final destination was another MA town, so my plan had been to take the Logan Express after landing in Boston. Instead, my sister had to drive to Hartford to pick me up.

I know, that's not the worst travel story you've ever heard, but it does put me off flying to Boston when the marathon is happening.

I'm just glad you cancelled. I saw a post from a dear friend in Boston, where they had 18 inches and people were skiing down the street on Beacon Hill where she lives.