BEVERLY — With the weather outside getting frightful and Gov. Deval Patrick urging motorists to finish their travel plans by 3 p.m., shoppers headed to the Stop & Shop on Enon Street for some last-minute purchases.
With the wind starting to pick up, shoppers seemed to take things in stride, while some were almost giddy.
"It's New England, we love it," said Mark Eicher of Beverly as he headed into the store. "I like the snow."
Shawn Farrell of Hamilton grew up in Buffalo, N.Y. ,where snow events like yesterday's and today's are common. Farrell was not fazed by predictions of up to a foot of snow or more as he headed to the supermarket for some olive oil for a roast his family was cooking.
"This is small potatoes for me," Farrell, 35, said. "This is a common, everyday thing from when I was growing up. So, living in New England the last seven years is a treat.
"I only shovel a couple of times a year instead of every day so this isn't a 'go to the store to get the milk and the eggs and the extra water and the candles' and stuff like that."
Linda Farrell-Lux, Farrell's mom, was also somewhat nonchalant. She plans to drive back to Buffalo today.
Not everyone in Farrell's family is so hardy. Farrell said his wife hails from Hawaii, and his father-in-law is in town for Christmas, and he rarely leaves the house in weather like this.
"He has been on storm watch for the last four or five days," Farrell said. His sister-in-law lives in Amherst, but she's going to wait out the storm in Hamilton.
With the storm picking up, Mark Dupee, 22, of Hamilton bought two bundles of wood from a display at the entrance to the supermarket that included firewood, shovels, antifreeze and snow-melting crystals.
"No firewood and we've got to get some firewood for the fire in case we lose some power," said Dupee, who said the family's house usually loses power in a snowstorm.
Noted hockey coach and Hockey East Commissioner of men's and women's Division I college hockey conferences Joe Bertagna of Gloucester came by the Beverly supermarket to pick up some bags of snow melt after running a hockey-goalie clinic in Woburn.
"Now I'm getting ready to make a tomato sauce for the rest of the day," Bertagna said. He said all that he has heard about the storm tells him the forecasts seem to be accurate. "I think most of us that have lived our whole lives in New England know what we have to do to prepare."
A local weather expert said the storm should continue through the midday today as it heads through the Northeast.
"This is a super northeaster," said meteorologist Art Francis, a consultant and climatologist at Salem State University. He said the storm would feature blizzard-like conditions as its center passed by the North Shore, off shore, around midnight.
With pressure dropping rapidly starting at 11:30 a.m. yesterday, the storm was expected to "intensify explosively," Francis said yesterday afternoon. He said forecasts called for winds up to 45 mph snowfall totals of 10 to 14 inches, depending on the track of the storm.
The Massachusetts Department of Transportation reported it had on hand 1,000 pieces of equipment to clear snow on roads, but could call on more than 4,000 pieces to plow and treat roads throughout the storm. The MBTA intended to provide regular service today, though Amtrak canceled service between Boston and New York last night.
On-road emergencies
Yesterday afternoon, as the storm worsened on the North Shore, police and fire crews were kept busy.
Police received a report of a spinout on Topsfield Road in Hamilton, with a vehicle striking a pole at 3:30 p.m. At 4 p.m., Hamilton police received a report of a single-car crash of a car into the woods on Route 128, in the vicinity of the Manchester town line. Crews were unable to locate the crash, however.
As the storm intensified, Peabody police received a report of a car into a pole on Washington Street at 4:39 p.m., Reports were that two patients were taken to the hospital.
Danvers police took a report of a car into a ditch on Florence Street at 4:53 p.m.
At 5:30 p.m., police in Salem received a report of a car into a pole near the high school on Highland Avenue.
Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com.
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