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Storm Comes to Gradual End; Gov. Malloy Lifts Statewide Travel Ban

Power outages were sparse.

Blizzard warnings eased early Tuesday for parts of Connecticut, but central and eastern parts of the state saw continuing snowfall and strong winds through midday. By noon, most counties were downgraded to a winter storm warning as a powerful nor'easter made its way across the state.

A statewide travel ban lifted in Connecticut at 2:00 pm. Local roads were opened in Litchfield and Fairfield Counties early Tuesday morning, but Governor Dannel Malloy asked residents to wait before getting on the roads if possible. State bus service will resume Wednesday, and state employees return to work in the morning.

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Asylum Avenue in Hartford on Tuesday morning.

During his public briefings, Malloy thanked residents for staying off the roads overnight. By noon Tuesday, only 15 accidents had been reported on state highways since 9:00 pm Monday.

"By closing the roads at 9:00 pm," Malloy said, "there is no doubt that we avoided hundreds of accidents that otherwise would have taken place... and that's to be applauded."

Residents' cooperation is what allowed Malloy to reopen the roads Tuesday afternoon. "We certainly got an unbelievable response from the people of Connecticut," he said. "On the other hand, at 2:00 pm, because of the sacrifices made by people in Connecticut to our request, we'll be in a position to open those roads, as opposed to situations if we had 200 or 300 vehicles parked behind a massive accident, and we had to tow them all out."

Malloy added that state employees should plan to return to work Wednesday morning.

Power outages were sparse. As of Tuesday morning, there were just eight outages for Connecticut Light and Power customers, and no outages for United Illuminating customers.

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Yuri, a dog in Vernon on Tuesday morning, isn't so sure about all that snow. Yuri is held by owner Kristie Custer-Hockaday.

Malloy said early Tuesday that eastern Connecticut was still getting hit by heavy snow, while some parts of the state saw less snow than expected.

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A dog in Colchester considers going outside Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday morning, Bob Thomson, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts, said the weather event wasn't quite done with Connecticut. "I think many areas are still looking at another five to ten inches in the eastern half of Connecticut through the balance of the morning," he said. By noon, much of the snow had cleared out.

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A Branford rail line on Tuesday morning.
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A view from a Middletown window on Tuesday morning.

There was also a cold mass associated with the storm. "We’ve got wind chills down in the single digits, even close to zero in some exposed areas, and [on Tuesday night] we could see wind chills that get down to perhaps zero to perhaps 15 below," Thomson said. He warned that exposure to that kind of cold for any length of time could bring on frostbite.

More snow is expected Friday, although as the National Weather Service put it, it'll be "nothing similar to today's storm."

Diane Orson and Jeff Cohen contributed to this report.

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