Looking Back On the ‘Blizzard of 2013’ and Ahead as Lexington Returns to Normal

Despite getting nearly two feet of snow, Lexington fared fairly well: Power outages were isolated, the streets are clear and the sidewalks are getting there; school’s back in session and the rest of the town has almost returned to normal.

The . Residents documented the accumulation and after-effects in two-dozen photos uploaded to Patch. A few favorites are posted to your right, and you can see the whole gallery here.

Lexington officials, in town-wide communications, phone calls and emails, reported that local cooperation with Gov. Deval Patrick’s travel ban and the town’s parking ban aided efforts to keep the streets safe and clear.

As the travel ban expired at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon, state and local officials encouraged folks to keep off the roads as much as they could, and to take it slow if they had to leave home. Here in Lexington, a local parking ban remained in place until Sunday afternoon.

Generally, locals abided by both the travel and parking ban, Lexington Police told Patch on Saturday and Sunday. But now some of the concern is that pedestrians will be by turns difficult to see due to high snowdrifts and forced into the roadway where sidewalks are still impassable.

The latest and last mass communication from the town reports: “Sidewalks are being plowed, but due to the amount of snow it will take several days for all sidewalks to be passable.” Plowing operations will continue for the next few days to widen roadways and re-open sidewalks.

“There will be pedestrians in the roadways and the very high snow banks have narrowed the roads and make visibility at intersections dangerous,” Police Chief Mark Corr wrote in an email to Patch early Sunday. “We encourage everyone to slow down and take care. It will still be a couple days before we are back to ‘normal.’”

The Lexington Public Schools, which closed Friday in anticipation of the storm, are back in session today. Also returning after a day off is mail service, which the United States Postal Service canceled Saturday throughout New England.

Business is bouncing back as well. While the town was bustling before the storm hit Friday, closures were widespread that afternoon and Saturday, particularly early in the day. Merchants, eateries and other businesses re-opened Saturday afternoon, Sunday and today as well.