Third Spring Blizzard Hits New England

Spring will be a little late this year.

That's what New England decided as it suffered its third blizzard since the vernal equinox. The four to 15 inches of snow falling on the northeast marked the worst April snowstorm in years.

Answering the Boston weather bureau's Saturday night prediction of "rain, changing to snow flurries," the storm left more than a million Massachusetts residents without electricity or telephones, forced television and radio stations off the air, stopped flights at Logan Airport, and blocked highways for several hours.

Most power failures were remedied early yesterday afternoon, and Logan resumed operations at 3 p.m. Although there were numerous delays, no flights were cancelled after that time. Students driving back to Cambridge late yesterday reported that highways were fairly clear.

The storm reached Boston one day too late to make Irish tempers flare again. The Boston St. Patrick's Day parade marched Saturday, only 21 days late, but several hours before the heavy snowfall began.

The Boston weather bureau last night again predicted possible snow flurries for today.