Franklin MA: Storm Center Collection for Jan 25 - 26, 2026

This page will get updated with additions and/or changes as the storm situation evolves. 

11:45am 1/25/26

Senior Center robocall with announcement of closure on Monday, Jan 26 due to the storm and other storm related updates -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/01/town-of-franklin-senior-center-update.html

11:00am 1/25/26

Town of Franklin robocall with DPW Director Brutus Cantoreggi delivering the messages https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/01/town-of-franklin-robocall-with-dpw.html

With the Town and School buildings closed on Monday, the meetings scheduled for Monday are also canceled and to be rescheduled.

10:45am 1/25/26

• Franklin Public Schools are cancelled on Monday, January 26, 2026, due to the forecasted winter storm and its expected duration   https://www.franklinps.net/live-feed#11182762

10:30am  1/25/26

• BFCCPS announces school closed for Monday, 1/26/26  https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ATnLZH5gj/
• Teddy Gallagher's Closed for today
• Children's Museum of Franklin announces they are closed on Monday, 1/26
• FPSC performance of Steel Magnolia cancelled for today, contact box office to get refund

From Massachusetts Emergency Mgt Assoc (MEMA)

"With temperatures across Massachusetts forecast to be dangerously cold on Friday night and Saturday, if you or someone you know needs shelter from the cold, you can call 2-1-1 or reach out to your local public safety officials to find the nearest warming center."

More extreme cold safety tips: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/extreme-cold-safety-tips

"With a significant winter storm forecast to bring 12+ inches of snow to much of Massachusetts on Sunday and Monday, it's time to prepare. 

• Plan ahead for possible power outages. Fully charge your cellphone, laptop and any essential electronic devices before the storm. 

• Ensure you have extra batteries for medical equipment and assistive devices. 

• Take stock of your emergency kit and ensure it includes seasonal supplies, such as extra winter clothing and blankets."

❄️❄️❄️

For more safety tips visit mass.gov/mema/snow

"As a significant winter storm approaches, individuals with disabilities may experience additional challenges especially for those who rely on mobility aids, personal assistance, or durable medical equipment.

Keep in mind these safety tips to plan for everyone's needs and always remember to check on your neighbors!"

Additional information can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/MEMA26afn

From Franklin Police Dept:

"Community Warming Center Open: St. Mary's Church of Milford and Pathway to a Better Life are coming together to keep our community safe during the upcoming extreme cold and snowfall.

• Opening: Friday, January 23rd at 4pm
• Closing: Monday, January 26th at loam

(May extend through Tuesday, January 27th at 10 am)

If you or someone you know needs warmth — Unhoused, Living in a vehicle, No heat, Frozen pipes Any cold-weather emergency call Lisa at 508-92"

Warming center link - https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Bkhx3PwU5/

Parking ban reminder

"Repeat after me…

Milk, bread, and don’t park your car on the street when it’s expected to snow over a foot because the plows cannot properly clear the roads when you do that and your car will get ticketed and towed

Again

Milk, bread, and don’t park your car on the street when it’s expected to snow over a foot because the plows cannot properly clear the roads when you do that and your car will get ticketed and towed"

Parking ban link -> https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HmegqoafR/

From Franklin DPW: 

Winter Storm Parking Ban

01/25/2026 12:00 PM to 01/26/2026 12:00 PM

A winter storm parking ban is in effect from 12:00 noon on 01/25/2026 until 12:00 noon on 01/26/2026.

During this period, parking of any motor vehicle is prohibited:

- within the right-of-way of any public street or roadway open to the public, and

- on any municipality owned property.

Purpose:

- Ensure safe movement of police, fire, and emergency medical vehicles;

- Facilitate efficient snow and ice removal by the Public Works Department;

- Protect public safety during winter weather conditions.

Penalty:

- Violators will be fined $25 for each offense.

Please move vehicles before 12:00 PM on 01/25/2026 to avoid fines and to help emergency services and snow-removal operations.

How to avoid frozen pipes

"Disconnect outside hoses and turn the water off at the valve inside your home.

Keep garage doors closed if there are water supply lines in the garage.

Open kitchen & bathroom doors to allow warmer air to circulate around the plumbing.

• When the weather is very cold outside. let the COLP WATCR ONLY drip from the faucet served by exposed pipes. Running water through the pipe - even at a trickle - helps prevent pipes from freezing.

If your pipe runs through the attic or crawl space, open the door to allow warmer air to now in.

• Keep the thermostat set to the same temperature both during the day and at night. By

temporarily suspending the use of lower nighttime temperatures. you may incur a higher

heating bill. but you can prevent a much mote costly repair job if pipes freeze and burst.

If you will be going to be away in cold weather, leave the heat on"

Frozen pipe alert link https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1aU13EppZz/

UPDATE! Curbside Trash/Recycling

"Due to the predicted large amount of snow to fall tomorrow Sunday January 25th and Monday January 26th, 2026, your scheduled trash and recycling pick up will be delayed one day.

So, Monday trash and recycling will be picked up on Tuesday.

Tuesday trash and recycling will be picked up on Wednesday

Wednesday trash and recycling will be picked up on Thursday

Thursday trash and recycling will be picked up on Friday

Friday trash and recycling will be picked up Saturday!"

Curbside schedule change for next week https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1bgpchiWBD/

Franklin MA: Storm Center Collection for Jan 25 - 26, 2026 

Closed or Early Closing for Sunday, January 25, 2026

• Franklin Historical Museum - Closed   https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BzBUk73mz/
• Children's Museum of Franklin - closing at 12:30 PM  https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16sthCnPYP/
• 
  

Town of Franklin Senior Center Update: Due to storm closed on Monday Jan 26, 2026 (audio)

Franklin Senior Center Director Sarah Amaral with an update on the closure of the center for Monday, Jan 26, 2026 and other storm related updates.

Audio link -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/fm-1642-town-of-franklin-senior-center-closure-updates-1-25-26/

What's happening in Franklin, MA: Sunday, January 25, 2026 ???

Sunday, January 25

Storm Center Collection

https://www.franklinmatters.org/2026/01/franklin-ma-storm-center-collection-for.html

12:00pm Parking Ban takes effect until Monday, Jan 26 at noon time

12:30pm Children's Museum of Franklin (closing time due to storm)

1:00pm Franklin Historical Museum - CLOSED due to the Storm

2:00pm Steel Magnolias (THE BLACK BOX)

*** NO Town Meetings today   ***

-----------

Find the full Community event calendar  https://bit.ly/FranklinCommunityCalendar

If you have an event to add to the calendar, you can use the form to submit it for publication:  https://bit.ly/Submit2Calendar

The Town meeting calendar is found  https://www.franklinma.gov/Calendar.aspx
The School district calendar is found  https://franklinpublicschooldistrictma.sites.thrillshare.com/o/fpsd/page/school-calendar

Town of Franklin: Winter Storm Parking Ban — Sunday, 01/25/2026 12:00 PM to Monday, 01/26/2026 12:00 PM

A winter storm parking ban is in effect from 12:00 noon on Sunday, 01/25/2026 until 12:00 noon on Monday, 01/26/2026.

During this period, parking of any motor vehicle is prohibited:

- within the right-of-way of any public street or roadway open to the public, and

- on any municipality owned property.

Purpose:

- Ensure safe movement of police, fire, and emergency medical vehicles;

- Facilitate efficient snow and ice removal by the Public Works Department;

- Protect public safety during winter weather conditions.

Penalty:

- Violators will be fined $25 for each offense.

Please move vehicles before 12:00 PM on 01/25/2026 to avoid fines and to help emergency services and snow-removal operations.

Shared from -> https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1Jq8ukS2kh/

DPW update on snow storm response; parking tickets issued during storm

Email from DPW Director Brutus Cantoreggi from earlier in the day (Monday, 1/19/26):

Just want to give you all an update on the snow and ice removal operations in case you get some calls.

Yesterday around 2PM, Waste Management called to inform us that trash and recycling would not be collected on Monday (today) as planned due to predicted weather. So curbside pick-up would be delayed one day. This is allowed in our contract with them. We immediately posted on websites and social media.

DPW personnel reported to work yesterday at 4 PM to work the storm based on weather reports that we received. We had pre- treated the Town the day before.

It was anticipated that we would get around three inches as reported by our weather folks and local media stations.

All DPW workers showed up on time.

Pretty much started snowing around 1PM with little accumulation.

Extremely cold, temp was 14 degrees.

Senior Center parking lot cleared when I went sledding with the kiddos on the hill to ECDC/Middle School

At 10PM we called in contractors as we had 3 inches of snow on the ground.

The contractors provided all equipment, much better than the last 2 events.

Vehicles parked on the road during the overnight parking ban continue to be a problem.

We worked with the Police and 35 to 40 tickets were issued.

As of right now, it is still snowing and over 6 inches of snow has fallen. The Town is looking pretty good, folks can travel throughout town on this holiday.

We will commence plowing sidewalks once the snow stops.

Shared from -> https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14V2BMgpGpr/

Metacomet Emergency Communication Center (MECC) stats for Friday's storm (12/19/25)

Via the Metacomet Emergency Communication Center (MECC) :

MECC stats

"Yesterday’s storm pushed our center to the highest call volume we’ve see all year and our team rose to the challenge.

Between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM:

• 911 calls- 196
• Business line calls - 340
• Dispatched Incidents- 350

To support the day shift during the surge, we called in additional staff from home, and everyone worked together seamlessly to manage the influx.

We are extremely proud of our dispatchers and support staff for keeping our communities safe when it mattered most. ALSO a big thank you to all our Fire and Police Departments that worked tirelessly going call to call to ensure safety!"

Shared from ->  https://www.facebook.com/share/1AQmzBnues/

Did you catch my conversation with Gary Premo, Executive Director of the Metacomet Emergency Communication Center (MECC) recorded in February 2025 -> https://www.franklinmatters.org/2025/03/gary-premo-talks-about-growth-and.html

Storm brings power outages, downed trees; Clean up and restorations continue this morning

Our household and neighborhood had power restored at 4 AM Saturday morning, an outage of approx. 17 hours. At the peak of the outages, streets were blocked with downed trees. Police and Fire units were active in responding. 

"Good morning,

I wanted to provide an update on the power outage situation from overnight into this morning.

I did not want to send emails throughout the night; however, please be assured that we were actively monitoring conditions and remained in close contact with National Grid throughout the event.

As of approximately 4:30 AM, there were about 1,600 households without power. By 6:30 AM this morning, that number had been reduced to approximately 600 locations still without power. National Grid continues to work on restoring service to the remaining customers.

I hope these updates have been helpful to you as you field questions from residents. I understand that some residents were looking for more detailed information and exact restoration timelines. I want to stress that we share all information as soon as it is provided to us by National Grid.

To recap, although there were multiple individual power lines down within our community the primary cause of the widespread outage was damage that occurred outside of town. National Grid advised that the root cause was a failure of a power transfer loop at a substation. This substation failure impacted four communities. The large-scale outage was due to the substation issue, not individual line failures.

Throughout the night, our crews kept up with demand and responded to calls for service as power was restored. There were no major incidents reported overnight.

We will continue to monitor the situation closely as the morning progresses and provide updates as necessary.

Please feel free to reach out if you need any additional information."

Fire Chief & Emergency Management Manager Charles Allen

And 

"Good morning,

The Department of Public Works has crews out this morning continuing with debris cleanup around town.

The good news is that we did not need to salt the roads, which saved municipal funds.

Have a great week!"

Robert Cantoreggi

Director, Department of Public Works

The NationalGrid outage map as of 7:30 this morning

The NationalGrid outage map as of 7:30 this morning

Franklin’s Public Works Department searches for a better way to use salt in the winter (video)

via the Franklin DPW 

If you have not noticed, we have been out treating our roadways often this winter. Over the last several weeks we have been getting a lot of calls about our salting procedures, particularly on the side roads. 

Salt is the most important and useful material we have to fight snow and ice and to assist safe traveling on our roadways. Salt is also a pollutant and can be a costly commodity that we try to use in responsible and cost effective ways.  

In basic terms we use more salt on the busier roads and hills and less on subdivision roadways; the result may be that some side roads are not always down to “bare pavement.” However, as you make your way to the main connector roads and primary roadways, they will be.  

There are so many factors that affect the use of salt and how we apply it: the temperature, the type of precipitation, the amount of precipitation, the time of day (day vs night), the time of year (how high sun is in the sky), previous applications, the availability of salt (might be in short supply), to name a few.  We are always going to do our best to provide the safest roadways with the best practices, in environmentally friendly ways that are cost effective. 

As always, please slow down if you think the roadway might be slippery. For additional information on our salting methods, check out the short film that details our procedures.

Video link ->  https://www.turnaround-films.com/15-public-on-the-road-with-salt?

how the squiggly lines get down on the roads before a storm arrives

Shared from -> https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1GkcQc4C1W/

Franklin Police open a YouTube Channel (video)

Franklin Police Dept. adds a YouTube channel to their communication tools. The first video shares some of the events during the storm on Monday, December 18, 2023.

"This is a short 6 minute video capturing some of the storm on December 18, 2023"

Video link -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wxx0stMFD4Y

Franklin Police now open a YouTube Channel (video)

Local author Don Wilding shares stories on the Cape Cod storms - Oct 4

Join me at the Milford (Mass.) Town Library on October 4, when I’ll take a look back at the Cape’s greatest storms. dwCapeCod.com/events

Shared from -> https://www.instagram.com/p/CxF3iu-AqGF/

Local author Don Wilding shares stories on the Cape Cod storms  - Oct 4

Franklin Food Pantry adjusts hours in anticipation of storm

"Neighbors & volunteers, wintery weather is on the way! 

The Pantry will be open for regular daytime, in-person shopping tomorrow, 3/14/23. 

Curbside Shopping has been moved to 1 PM - 2:30 PM tomorrow. There will be NO curbside from 5:30-7:00. 

If Franklin Public Schools are closed, The Pantry is closed."   https://t.co/OpwTcElKiA

https://twitter.com/FranklinFoodPan/status/1635411849134108674

Franklin Food Pantry adjusts hours in anticipation of storm

Town of Franklin: DPW Recorded Message with the storm notices for Feb 25, 2022

The audio recorded message from Town of Franklin DPW Director Robert (Brutus) Cantoreggi with the notices on the trash delay, recycling center closure, and parking ban - all in advance of the storm forecasted for Friday, Feb 25, 2022. 

Audio file -> https://franklin-ma-matters.captivate.fm/episode/town-of-franklin-storm-notices-02-24-2022 

Town of Franklin: DPW Recorded Message with the storm notices for Feb 25, 2022

Franklin Public Schools: Half Day - February 9, 2021

February, 9, 2021

Dear Franklin community,

The weather forecast is calling for light snow to begin this morning with heavier snow showers developing in the afternoon making dismissal difficult.

Therefore, we will hold school (both in-person/hybrid and remote) today, Tuesday, February 9, on a half day schedule. Schools will be dismissed as follows:

• ECDC: 12:15 PM
• Elementary Schools: 11:45 AM
• Middle Schools:10:45 AM (10:50 AM at HMMS)
• High Schools: 10:55 AM

Snow day decisions never please everyone. The rationale for a half day involves preserving in person learning wherever possible, as we know that this face to face time is of great value to our students. Throughout this winter season, we are keeping track of the impact of these decisions on our different cohorts and we will make adjustments, if we are able.

As always on snowy days, parents/guardians may exercise their discretion to keep their child home if they feel it is unsafe.

Stay safe and warm.

Kind regards,
Sara Ahern

Franklin Public Schools: Half Day  - February 9, 2021

 

Franklin Residents: Winter Storm Update

Winter Storm Update Hello Franklin, Please make note of the following alerts and information:  A full parking ban is in effect until noon today No Trash/Recycling Collection today, Thursday, Dec 17th. Trash/Recycling will be delayed by one day for 12/17 and 12/18 pick-ups only. The Municipal Building and all town buildings (Recreation, Museum, Senior Center, Library, and DPW Administration) will remain closed today, Thursday, December 17th. All staff will be working remotely today and are available via email and phone during regular business hours. Please do not hesitate to reach out!  Town offices and buildings will reopen tomorrow, Friday, Dec 18th at 8:00 for normal business hours.  Based on this morning's report from the state MEMA office and Governor Baker's directives, it's in the best interest of the community to stay off the roads and allow our incredible local DPW workers and state highway officials the chance to clear snow from all roads, sidewalks and parking lots.  Visit our website for information and links. Stay safe!  www.franklinma.gov https://www.franklinma.gov/

Town of Franklin | 355 East Central Street, Franklin, MA 02038 Sent by traceya@franklinps.net powered by Try email marketing for free today!

Urgent: Winter Storm Alerts

Winter Storm Alerts

A winter storm is approaching this evening and will be with us until tomorrow. Please make note of the following alerts: 

• A full parking ban is in effect from 12 pm tonight until noon tomorrow
• No Trash Collection tomorrow, Thursday, Dec 16th.  Trash will be delayed by one day.
• The Municipal Building will be closed from 8 am-noon tomorrow.  Employees will be working remotely until noon and are available via email or voicemail.  

Stay safe! 

 

Read more about Emergency information https://www.franklinma.gov/home/pages/emergency-management-information

Urgent: Winter Storm Alerts

Town of Franklin, MA: Storm emergency reminder

"Residents should consider downloading the ⁦@nationalgridus⁩ app on their phones where you can report power outages, monitor restoration and much more. ⁦@FranklinMAFire⁩ "

Shared from Twitter: https://t.co/VgQcVSQ9pb

Apple App Store =  https://apps.apple.com/us/app/national-grid/id632161989

Google App Store =  https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ifactor.ngrid&hl=en&gl=US

nationalgrid web page = https://login.nationalgridus.com/

Town of Franklin, MA: Storm emergency reminder

nationalgrid: Storm Season Safety: Are You Prepared?

Storm Season Alert: Important safety information for our customers. As storm season approaches, severe weather could impact our service territory, causing damage and threatening your safety. National Grid is ready, and we want to ensure that you and your family are prepared before the next storm hits. To view this email as a web page, click here.

As storm season approaches, severe weather could impact our service territory, causing damage and threatening your safety. National Grid is ready, and we want to ensure that you and your family are prepared before the next storm hits. Storm Safety Tips: Never touch downed power lines, and always assume that any fallen lines are live electric wires. If you see one, report it immediately to National Grid or your local emergency response organization. It is a good idea to keep a number of working flashlights, at least one battery-operated radio and an extra supply of batteries in your home. It is also recommended to charge mobile devices prior to the storm so you can stay connected in the event of a power outage. Power problems can sometimes interrupt public water supply systems or disable well pumps, so it's an especially good idea to keep a supply of bottled drinking water handy, as well as some canned food. Stay Connected: Use your mobile device to track outage information, report outages and storm-related safety tips through National Grid's mobile site accessible at www.ngrid.com/mobile To receive text message alerts and updates from National Grid, text the word STORM to NGRID (64743). Other ways to stay in touch: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram; we post all the latest storm and restoration updates.