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This was the heaviest snowstorm the Berkshires has seen in 12 years. Here's how much snow each town got

cars drive around pickup truck pulling truck out of snow

Cars and trucks drive tightly around a pickup truck as it attempts to pull another truck from the snowy embankment on Tamarack Road in Pittsfield during Tuesday’s nor’easter.

The big cleanup began Wednesday morning. The massive snowfall — caused by a nor’easter spinning off the Massachusetts coast — finally ended and clouds began to part, revealing sunshine and blue skies in parts of the Berkshires.

Road crews were out in force, piling snow into huge white mountains as traffic remained sparse in many areas. Much of the Northeast was in dig-out mode Wednesday.

Storm totals compiled by the National Weather Service ranged from 32 inches in Windsor — the highest recorded in the Berkshires — to 23 inches in Pittsfield, 20 in Adams and 11 in North Adams. Lower-elevation South County towns were spared the double-digit totals. Anectodally, some hilltown residents said the snow piled up to 3 feet or more.

Nearly all schools were closed for a second day countywide.

It was the heaviest two-day snowfall in the county since the pre-Halloween surprise of Oct. 29-30, 2011, that dumped 18 inches on Pittsfield, nearly 2 feet on several other towns, and a jackpot of 32 inches in Peru.

Fortunately, the high winds predicted by forecasters spared the county from widespread power failures as the heavy wet snow clung to tree branches. Still, many trees and some power lines came down during the height of the storm, causing blackouts of as much as 15 hours in some areas.

As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, Eversource reported 578 of its 42,413 customers in Berkshire County were still awaiting power restoration. Towns with scattered blackouts included Becket, Cheshire, Dalton, Lanesborough, Lee, Otis, Peru, Sandisfield, Windsor and Pittsfield.

National Grid had 2,012 of its 35,128 customers still offline in North Adams, Williamstown, Cheshire, Great Barrington, Stockbridge, Lenox, Alford, Egremont, Monterey, Sheffield, and New Marlborough, according to PowerOutage.us.

Adams police wrote in a Facebook post Wednesday morning that power to Meadow Street, Haggerty Street and Meadow Lane may not be restored until Thursday evening.

"There is a possibility of it being restored prior to this, but please check on your neighbors," the department wrote.

The town of Becket, which was also saw widespread outages due to the storm, has declared a state of emergency, according to Town Administrator Katherine Warden.

“We were experiencing high winds, heavy snowfall, and more than 90 percent of town had lost power,” Warden said. “So for the welfare of everyone, I declared a state of emergency.”

As part of her declaration, Warden did not seek state funding at the time. But the town is keeping track of its expenses during the storm and recovery so that if funds do become available, officials will be ready to submit an application.

A warmup starting on Thursday should help towns like Becket that are still digging out from the snow. A dry, mild day is forecast, with rain showers Friday into Saturday. Gradual melting of the snowpack is expected with daytime highs only in the 40s, according to the National Weather Service. No flooding issues are anticipated currently, but forecasters will be monitoring river and stream levels.

Snow totals for Berkshire County

Windsor: 32 inches

Hancock: 27.0

Dalton: 26.7

Becket: 26.0

Otis: 24.0

Clarksburg: 23.0

Sandisfield: 23.1

Pittsfield: 23.0

Mount Washington: 22.0

Lenox: 20.5

Adams: 20.0

New Ashford: 19.0

Lanesborough: 16.0

Stockbridge: 14.0

Cheshire: 13.0

Williamstown: 13.0

North Adams: 11.0

Great Barrington: 9.0

Sheffield: 7.0

Source: National Weather Service spotters and observers.

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Boy kisses snowman
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Man buried in snow up to his waist
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View through snow on skylight
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Snow waves created by wind
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The sign to the Mount Greylock Visitor Center is buried in snow

Eagle staff writers Sten Spinella, Scott Stafford and Meg Britton-Mehlisch contributed to this report. 

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