Boston prepares for expected giant storm

While various state departments advised residents to stay off the roads, many locals are used to the lack of snow in recent winters doubted the extremity of the coming snowfall and chose to enjoy the outdoor conditions.

Diana Martinez sat in the stands at Roberto Clemente Field in Fenway, enjoying the sun beating down on the grass field below her.

“It’s very sunny and hot so I decided to sit out here and get some vitamin C,” she said. “I woke up today thinking ‘What happened to the storm?'”

Martinez, a graduate student at Northeastern University, said all month she has been wearing a jacket and two pairs of pants when she leaves the house. Today she settled for a sweater and a light vest.

Adrian Sanchez, 20, plays soccer twice a week on the field with his friends from Wentworth Institute of Technology. He said the weather conditions were ideal when he kicked the ball around.

“It’s warm, it’s not windy, it’s perfect,” he said.

Boston saw heavy snow last month, when a little more than 5 inches fell on Dec. 20, breaking a long snow-free stretch that lasted over 1,000 days.

Once this storm system moves out, New Englanders will face extremely cold weather as a blast of arctic air settles in Monday and Tuesday. Temperatures will struggle to climb out of the teens, with many areas set to experience single digits and even near-zero temperatures Tuesday morning, Boston Globe meteorologist Ken Mahan said.

The Department of Conservation and Recreation will implement parking bans on agency-managed park roads due to the storm. All parking bans on DCR roads will apply on both sides of the road, and cars parked in those areas during an active snow ban may be ticketed and towed, the agency wrote in a storm advisory.

Still, streams of people strolled outside in the hours before the storm was expected to hit, watching the last shards of ice melt into water. Many said it was hard to believe the ground would soon be covered in up to eight inches of snow.

Sarah and Mike Szopa stood outside Time Out Market enjoying drinks from the Beer Garden while playing with their rescue dogs Ellie and Maizie. The couple came down to Boston from Manchester, NH to see a show and plan to head back up north later today.

“It’s been kind of a lackluster winter,” Sarah said. “There’s no snow here – is it even winter?”

All the map routes the couple looked at for their trip home have “storm warning” warnings. The Massachusetts Department of Transportation is advising travelers that snowfall and bitter cold are expected to affect travel in many regions of the state from Sunday afternoon into Monday morning.

Travelers should allow extra travel time and check forecasts for their routes and destinations and, “if possible, consider using public transportation instead of a personal vehicle,” the agency wrote in a weather advisory Saturday.

But because the Szopas are from New Hampshire, their rule is that there needs to be at least five inches of snow on the ground before they’re inclined to stay off the roads.

“We’re driving in a blizzard to ski,” she said with a laugh.

Other longtime New Englanders agreed with this sentiment.

Bob Brown stopped during a walk with his wife, Beverly, to insist that “it’s not going to be cold here anymore.” The couple have lived in the Boston area for more than 40 years and believe the word “storm” can only be used if it comes with several feet of snow.

“In my life, this doesn’t even count,” Bob Brown said.

Materials from previous Globe articles were used in this report.

Alexa Coultoff can be contacted at [email protected]. Follow her @alexacoultoff.