36,000 without power with more outages expected from storm

Jan. 23—More than 110,000 Eversource customers in New Hampshire lost power during the snowstorm that dragged on through much of Monday, with a third storm in less than week threatening to bring more winter woes Wednesday.

Eversource had restored more than 73,000 customers overnight Sunday through mid-afternoon Monday with another 41,000 still in the dark, according to William Hinkle, Eversource's media relations manager.

"The Keene, Bedford, Nashua, Epping and Rochester areas include the hardest-hit communities," Hinkle said.

Meanwhile, the National Weather Service warned of more trouble on the way.

"Another storm system will move into the region Wednesday night and Thursday with snow changing to a wintry mix or even rain," it said. "Significant snow accumulation is possible, especially away from the coast."

With the storm shuttering dozens of schools on Monday, many parents juggled child care and work responsibilities for a second straight school day.

After spending Friday with her two daughters at home for a snow day, Sara Persechino needed to get work done Monday.

Kenley, 9, and Lucca, 6, headed to stay with their grandma not far from their Hopkinton home.

"I've traded shoveling for child care," Persechino said.

She was able to get work done at home for a nonprofit. And her husband will do the shoveling to make good on the child care deal.

"My kids are thrilled," Persechino said. "They're happy as could be to have the snow. I am over it. I'm ready for them to go back to school, so I can focus with work."

As for a possible third storm on Wednesday, she said: "We'll keep our fingers crossed."

Snow totals as of Monday afternoon included 14.5 inches in Meredith, 12.1 in Hillsborough, 12 in Madison and 11.2 in Keene, 9.8 in New Boston and 1.4 in Portsmouth, according to National Weather Service spotters.

Concord's airport measured 9.8 inches of snowfall, as of early afternoon. Manchester-Boston Regional Airport reported 3.8 inches for the same period.

The folks running Pats Peak Ski Area & Banquet Center in Henniker were excited about the natural snow.

"We've been waiting for some snow storms!" Lori Rowell, director of marketing and sales, wrote in an email.

"We had a busy day on Friday and Monday with the snowstorms. Our weekend business has been really good, too," Rowell said. "We are consistent with last year's attendance for ticket sales and our season pass sales are strong."

But the snow that benefited ski areas weakened trees around the state.

Last week's storm dropped wet snow that added "a lot of weight on the trees," said meteorologist Jon Palmer from the National Weather Service Office in Gray, Maine.

"Once this storm came on through with some more heavy snow and a changeover (to rain) in spots, that added more weight to branches and ultimately caused branches to come down," including some on power lines, Palmer said.

Morning commuters found major highways with lowered speed limits.

State Police said troopers responded to more than 25 crashes and vehicles off the road during a four-hour span Monday morning.

In Nashua, a plow struck a Hollis ambulance responding to a medical call in the afternoon.

"It got bumped by a plow truck," said Hollis Fire Chief Robert Boggis."Just a piece of trim got scraped off."

The ambulance had four people inside, including a patient, but no one was injured, he said.

In addition to Eversource, the state's three other power companies added thousands more to the outage tally.

The New Hampshire Legislature canceled its public hearings and committee meetings because of the weather. Officials said those sessions will take place in the coming weeks.

Gov. Chris Sununu's office postponed for a second straight workday the swearing in of Haydin Simmons as the kid governor for 2023. Simmons attends the Pollard Elementary School in Plaistow.

Staff reporter Kevin Landrigan contributed to this article.

Staff reporter Kevin Landrigan contributed this report.