Record setting snow and brutal cold cause New Hampshire town to cancel ice carnival

© Reuters/Brian Snyder

Pedestrians make their way along a snow covered street during a winter snow storm in Cambridge, Massachusetts in this file photo taken on February 9, 2015.

Following a series of record-setting snowfalls, New England on Friday got a new metric for how severe its winter has been: The town of Alton, New Hampshire called off its annual ice carnival due to a forecast calling for more snow and brutal cold.

"It'll be zero degrees and blowing snow, and that's not a good time for everybody," said Roger Sample, who owns a construction business in the town on the shores of New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee and serves as the carnival's chairman.

The carnival, which Sample said has been held for more than two decades, typically draws about 1,000 visitors out onto the frozen lake's Alton Bay for games and rides, as well as to see small planes that land on the ice.

© DAN SEUFERT/UNION LEADER CORRESPONDENT

Alton Winter Carnival Director Roger Sample, left, and Alton Bay Seaplane Base and Ice Runway Manager Paul LaRochelle stand on the ice of Alton Bay Thursday morning.

The ice was also a bit slushy following a recent ice-fishing competition, which added to Sample's concern.National Weather Service forecasts call for Alton, located about 90 miles (145 km) north of Boston to see about 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 cm) of snow from a forecast weekend winter storm. Overnight temperatures could dip as low as 6 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (minus-21 C).

Conditions could be worse for Boston, which has received about 6 feet (1.8 meters) of snow from a trio of powerful storms over the past three weeks and is bracing for as much as 14 inches (36 cm) of snow from a storm due to hit on Saturday and last into Sunday.

"More than likely, we're probably going to go to a blizzard warning in eastern Massachusetts and particularly Cape Cod where they could see winds of 70 miles per hour (113 kph)," said Bill Simpson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts.

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