Friday’s storm, which blanketed eastern Connecticut with several inches of snow, likely signaled a return to a more typical weather pattern for the rest of the winter, meaning more frequent snowfalls may be in the offing, according the assistant director of the Weather Center at Western Connecticut State University in Danbury.  

“We’re starting to see coastal storms, more cold air being brought into southern New England from Canada,” Gary Lessor said. “It’s typical of what happens. We just hadn’t seen it yet this year.”

Wet, heavy snow prompted school closings and created dicey driving conditions throughout the region.

Accumulations in New London County varied from 10.5 inches in Colchester to 7.5 inches in Groton to 5 inches in Stonington, according to the National Weather Service. 

Shortly before noon, 5 inches had already piled up in Groton. Combined with the 6.75 inches that fell there Jan. 23 — the season’s only other significant snowfall — 11.75 inches had fallen this winter, according to Lessor.

Last year, through Feb. 15, Groton had been hit with 43 inches of snow.

Normally, Lessor said, Groton gets 23.2 inches of snow in an entire year.

“This year, we’ve seen stuff coming across the country — warmer air and a lot of rain,” he said. “Now, the pattern’s shifting to what’s more normal. Going forward, over the next 30 days or so, we should be seeing more frequent snow events that will at least bring us close to normal totals (of snowfall), if not slightly above normal."

At 8 p.m., thousands of households remained without power in eastern Connecticut. Eversource’s online outage map showed 1,504 customers had reported outages in Montville. Sizable numbers of outages also were reported in Ledyard (2,394) and Groton (1,001).

In Ledyard, warming centers opened up in Bill Library and Gales Ferry Library from about 2 until 5 p.m.

Ledyard emergency management officials said around 6 p.m. that an Eversource representative, calling damage to the company's system comparable to what happened during Hurricane Sandy, didn't have an estimate about when power would be restored.

They said they will work with the Red Cross should need for a shelter arise.

Ledyard police said several area hotels are offering special storm rates to residents without power, including Microtel in Uncasville, Bellisimo Grande in North Stonington and Hilton Garden Inn in Preston.

They asked those with questions to call police at (860) 464-6400.

Crystal Mall, located at 850 Hartford Turnpike in Waterford, also lost power because of the storm.

Speaking by phone at 3:45 p.m. Friday, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said the storm hit eastern Connecticut hardest. At times during the storm, he said, the region had up to 60,000 customers without power.

Malloy said he expected several of those customers to seek temporary refuge with friends and family members, but added that, by calling 211, residents can learn where the nearest warming center is.

The state's Emergency Operations Center, partially activated at midnight Thursday, was expected to remain open until at least 8 p.m. on Friday, at which point Malloy said officials would evaluate whether it was needed any longer.

Downed wires and tree branches affected traffic in several parts of the region throughout the day.

Kevin Nursick, a state Department of Transportation spokesman, said the state had its entire fleet — some 670 trucks, including more than 30 operated by private contractors — out plowing and applying salt to highways throughout the day.

“We had a bit of a grace period because of yesterday’s warm temperatures that left asphalt around the state at around 50 degrees,” he said Friday. “We have subsurface sensors that show the temperature down to 19 inches below the surface was 45 degrees. That’s why you get more accumulation on grass and backyard decks than on roadways.

"When a storm comes in at 32 degrees or so, it (snow) takes longer to accumulate.”

At that temperature, road salt is especially effective, Nursick said.

Amid storms, highways tend to be in better shape than local, secondary roads because they bear more traffic, Nursick said. Traffic helps work de-icing material into roadways.

The DOT was plowing some 10,800 “lane miles,” Nursick said.

Meteorologist Bill Jacquemin said Saturday will be mostly sunny, with temperatures climbing into the high 30s.

Day Staff Writer Lindsay Boyle contributed to this report.