Massachusetts
Massachusetts family’s hulking snowman grows to 23-feet tall after weekend blizzard
Frosty got a growth spurt!
A Massachusetts family’s second-annual construction of a goliath snowman was packed with a little extra cushion after Winter Storm Hernando tore through the state, boosting it to a whopping 23-feet tall.
Parker the Snowman, initially measuring 20-feet high and 21-feet wide, shot up an extra three feet on top of a four-foot expansion outwards after the weekend blizzard buried the state in snow.
The behemoth’s architect, Eric Aalerud, admitted to WHDH that he “was more sore” while undertaking the annual project “than anything” he’d attempted in the last decade.
His wife, Katie Aalerud, told CBS News that Eric built their first family snowman in November 2024, just after welcoming their daughter Emerson, while he “was going stir crazy in the house.”
He constructed the snowman from a massive snow pile that only kept growing over time, until it became its own roadside attraction with light-up features. Katie’s only problem was its “creepy” glowing red eyes, which were swapped out for blue this year.
Katie told NBC10 Boston that her husband used a snowblower, shovel, wood, ladder and “water to freeze everything” to pile up the snowman and keep it together for weeks on end.
The faux top hat on Parker’s head is made out of “a trash barrel and plywood, spray-painted black,” Katie said. The eyes, buttons, and large tree branch arms are all adorned with bright lights so that passersby can see the frosty fellow as they drive up the hill near their Shirley home.
“Last year it dwindled slowly, and I would say probably at the beginning of April when the last of it finally melted,” Katie told the outlet.
The Aaleruds plan to build a bigger and better snowman each year for as long as they are able.
During a rare snow day Monday, hundreds of New Yorkers sculpted their own snowmen and other snow structures, including makeshift igloos, throughout the city — but none so big as the Aaleruds’ masterpiece.
We’re still on the good side of the forecast today. We’ll see a good supply of sun to start, then the clouds will increase and a few showers will sink down from the north in the afternoon. We still manage to make it near 70. (Yay.)
Tomorrow’s high temperatures, however, comes after midnight tonight — before falling toward Saturday morning. If you think that’s confusing, try explaining the snow that’ll be flying in the higher elevations across New England (with solid accumulation above 4k feet).
Yes, the weather is upside down for late May.
We can blame an intense, compact upper-level pool of cold air that broke loose from a larger pool near the Arctic Circle days ago.
The pattern across North America has dropped it in our laps for a day, with cold, rainy, windy consequences.
Rain, wind and… snow?
This will be a sneaky storm. Early on, there might even be a calm, bright sky (very) early Saturday morning. Then the clouds move in and the wind intensifies from the northeast. Gust will briefly peak at 50+ along the coast (40+ inland).
Rain will mix with snow in northern New England, and perhaps in the highest elevations of southern New Hampshire and central Massachusetts.
This also depends on the intensity of the precipitation. Heavier bursts of rain can drag down colder air aloft, helping the snowflakes make it from cloud base to your home place (if you live above 1k feet).
Ironically, we’re not expecting a deluge from this storm. Most spots keep near a half inch, with higher amounts near an inch in northeast Mass./southern NH.
And then just like that, it’s over. The storm pulls away Saturday evening, the skies clear and we’re back to sun Sunday. Highs recover to near 70 with the slightest chance for a shower late day.
Better chances – and cooler temps – come both Monday and Tuesday.
Will summer ever take hold? We know from past years that June can really struggle. It appears that the start of the month may not live up to expectations. Although we are at least climbing back to the 80s late next week.
Have a good weekend.
The head of the Massachusetts State Police can’t be sued for an alleged program that secretly recorded officers’ phone conversations with civilians and used them to bring criminal charges, the First Circuit said Thursday.
A group of Massachusetts residents filed a putative class against against Superintendent Geoffrey Noble, as well as Motorola and other companies, over the secret recordings, which were used to propose criminal charges in at least 181 cases without prosecutors’ knowledge, the three judge panel said.
The opinion by Circuit Judge Seth Aframe said the residents, led by Jason Courtemanche, failed to show how they’d be directly …
Massachusetts families are spending 8% of their monthly income on health care, according to a new study. That puts the Bay State toward the higher end of the scale, coming in at No. 12 in the country.
The analysis from personal finance website WalletHub examined where people are spending the most and the least on health care.
Alaska was No. 1 in the U.S., spending over 10% of their income on health care. On the other end of the scale, Utah residents spend 5% of their income on health care.
“Sharp increases in health care costs in recent years have made it difficult for some people to seek essential care,” WalletHub Analyst Chip Lupo said. “Even in states with lower-than-average health care prices, residents’ incomes may not be enough to keep up with the cost, especially since virtually every part of Americans’ budgets have been impacted by inflation over the past few years.”
To determine how much families are spending, WalletHub analyzed the prices of five key health care components across all 50 states, then combined those costs and compared them with each state’s median household income.
Read more: 1 MA Town Among 250 Best Places To Live In US News Ranking
Massachusetts spends the most on health care compared to other states in the region, according to the study. Vermont is the next-highest state in the Northeast, ranking at No. 14 with residents spending 7.98% of their income on health care.
Here are the top 10 states where people are spending the most on health care:
- Alaska
- Oregon
- Maine
- Mississippi
- West Virginia
- New Mexico
- North Carolina
- Montana
- South Dakota
- Louisiana
Check out the full study at WalletHub.
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