Somerville Snow Emergency Likely This Weekend

For the third straight weekend, Somerville is expecting snow, and a snow emergency is likely.

The National Weather Service has issued a hazardous weather outlook for the Somerville area.

It says "a lot of uncertainty remains given that the storm is still nearly three days in the future."

That said, the National Weather Service says, "The storm will bring the potential for heavy wet snow to the region."

"There will be the potential for some downed tree limbs and power outages where heavy wet snow occurs," it says.

Channel 7, WHDH, was predicting Thursday morning the Somerville area could receive four to eight inches of snow, beginning Saturday night and continuing into Sunday morning.

Another snow emergency likely

Meanwhile, Somerville has already seen two consecutive weekends of snow emergencies, and Jackie Rossetti, a spokesperson for the city, said, "It looks more likely than not a snow emergency will be declared" this weekend.

Rossetti said the city has spent roughly $400,000 on snow removal from the February blizzard alone. She emphasized that number was rough and likely to change. "They're still trying to finalize the numbers," she said. The number doesn't include cleanup costs from the smaller snow storm that hit Somerville the weekend following the blizzard.

The city has allocated $650,000 in its budget for snow removal, Rossetti said, but if more snow comes, it may need to spend more.

In the previous fiscal year, Somerville also allocated $650,000 for snow removal, but with the mild winter it spent only $400,000.

Before that, in fiscal year 2011, the city had $500,000 for snow removal, and ended up spending about $1.4 million after a hard winter with multiple storms.

"It's kind of a guessing game. We live in New England," Rossetti said about snow removal budgets.

Rossetti said the city is monitoring the current storm. "The cleanup from the blizzard and last weekend's little storm still haven't stopped," she said, and the city will continue to clear snow from intersections and roads in preparation for more.

Volunteer to shovel

The city is seeking volunteers to help seniors shovel. Teens, you could earn a small stipend to help out. More here.