The blizzard conditions are making it difficult for workers at National Grid, a key electric and gas company in Massachusetts, to restore power to tens of thousands of its customers, it said.
More than 50,000 customers across Massachusetts are without power, according to the company.
“While our crews are deployed and ready, weather conditions are expected to limit restoration efforts throughout the day,” Christopher Laird, the chief operating officer of National Grid New England Electric, said in a statement.
Full restoration work can begin when the conditions improve, the company said.
Eversource, another company, said more than 234,000 of its customers in eastern Massachusetts are in the dark.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said she has been in communication with both Eversource and National Grid about the outages. Both companies have crews ready to respond, she said, but “the issue is going to be access.”
The wind needs to die down to make it safe for people to go up in bucket trucks and the roads need to be cleared, Healey said.
Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency Director Dawn Brantley also said it is anticipated to be a “multi-day” process to restore power.
This post has been updated with additional details.