Keenan Miller, Contributing Photographer
Approximately eight inches of snow and strong winds threw the city’s transportation systems into flux this weekend, when many Yalies had planned to travel back to campus.
Amtrak, Avelo Airlines, CT Transit and the Yale University Shuttle all announced canceled or limited service in response to the Nor’easter that moved through New Haven this weekend, and service is being restored as conditions allow. City and state officials urged caution while weather conditions made driving hazardous, and Mayor Justin Elicker issued a city-wide parking ban that lasted from Friday night to Sunday at noon.
“Look, this is not our first rodeo, we’re the gateway to New England,” Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont said in a press conference Saturday. “We’ve been through these storms before. I gotta tell you, I’ve just been extraordinarily impressed with the folks at the EOC [Emergency Operations Center], and meeting all the folks who are out there driving the snow plows. They know what they’re doing.”
Amtrak modified service in the Northeast due to conditions, citing concern for the safety of employees and customers. The Acela, Northeast Regional, Vermonter and Springfield Shuttle services — all of which run through New Haven — were cancelled or limited on Saturday. Some cancellations and limits still remained in effect on Sunday.
Avelo Airlines announced through Twitter that it would be cancelling multiple flights Friday through Sunday due to “inclement weather in the East Coast.” According to the company’s website, all flights departing from and arriving at Tweed New Haven Airport were cancelled on Saturday. Though arrivals were operating normally Sunday, several early departures from the city were also cancelled.
Other airports in the region also had to cancel flights.
“I was originally supposed to fly back into Bradley [International Airport] on Saturday, January 29, but I found out my flight got cancelled early Thursday evening,” Hamilton Wan ’23 wrote to the News. “Fortunately, it wasn’t too hard for me to find a similar return flight on Monday, January 31, so I’m headed back then.”
The Yale University Shuttle paused on Saturday at 1 a.m. and is expected to resume Monday at 6 a.m. CT Transit service was also disrupted early Saturday, although bus service in New Haven has already resumed.
To facilitate snow plowing, Elicker issued a citywide parking ban that began at 10 p.m. on Friday and was lifted at 12 p.m. Sunday. Options for off-street parking included lots maintained by New Haven Public Schools, the New Haven Parking Authority and Yale. Those parked in school lots were asked to remove their vehicles by 2 p.m. Sunday, and those parked in Yale lots were asked to remove their vehicles by 5 p.m. Sunday.
A fleet of 50 Parks and Public Works vehicles worked around the clock over the weekend to clear major roadways, though some low-priority roadways may still be unplowed. During the storm, Elicker asked New Haven residents to “not leave your home during the storm unless absolutely necessary” in a message sent out through the New Haven Alert system.
Lamont, in a press conference Saturday, also asked that people stay at home and off the roads until the storm had passed through. He said that high rates of snowfall in areas of the state meant “snowplows can’t come around fast enough to get that cleared,” which – in addition to low visibility – created hazardous conditions. He briefly spoke of several automobile accidents that occurred on I-95 while the storm was in progress to emphasize the need for caution.
The New Haven weather forecast predicts no further precipitation until Thursday, Feb. 3, when there is a 60 percent chance of rain.