Across region, localities stagger under burden of coping with snow

Before today’s storm, Boston had already been hit with 44.7 inches of snow since the start of December, more than twice the amount that usually has fallen by this time of the season, said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Taunton. As a result, the city has spent $12.2 million of its $12.9 million snow removal budget, and it looked likely to exceed the budget with today’s storm, city officials said.