Weather

Jenni shows the view out her house in Brighton.

Katia forwards these before and after pics.

The Channel 7 reporter has been stationed on Plum Island since yesterday. This morning, she reported from a porch that had waves crashing into its base as debris from destroyed neighboring houses floated out to sea.

Then her signal went dead. Anchor Adam Williams then assured viewers: "Our crews don't stand in areas that are dangerous or are susceptible to any damage."

We learned 30 or so minutes later that Tran was safe, as she reported - by phone - that she had moved to a new location. In fact, she was inside, inside a house whose owner assured her it was designed to handle these conditions. Then she casually mentioned she was hearing "booming" from where waves and debris from destroyed houses were crashing into the house's foundations. Williams asked if she was sure she was safe.

What do several hundred BU students do? Descend on Storrow Drive and the Esplanade. Police, of course, arrived not long after to break things up.

More video (snowball fight starts about 1:00).

Jeanette Andrew photographed her street in JP.

Webster Street, East Boston. Photo by Miranda H.

Park Square lights. Photo by Michal Skrzypek.

As of midnight, some 345,000 households and businesses across the state were without power, the state reports. That includes the entire city of Quincy.

• NStar outage map

Hyde Square in Jamaica Plain around 10 p.m. Photo by Ben Ray.

Katie Painter went out tonight and managed to snap this photo of a Brighton snowbank.

Geoffrey Grove tweets:

Very large coyote roaming in Chestnut Hill... People plowing/shoveling beware!

Matt Laskowski photographed Comm. Ave. at Griggs around 7:30 p.m.

Sven Heistad was amazed how empty Comm. Ave. in the Back Bay was this afternoon.

Empty Comm. Ave. in Allston. Copyright Photographynatalia.

El Pelon Taqueria reports these guys wandered into its Chestnut Hill outlet a little after 5 p.m.

Maybe the same person who thought it would be a good idea to have Williams and Lisa Hughes anchor the news while standing outside in the station parking lot. Williams, being a man's man, of course, just stood there without a hat. They finally got him back inside, and by the looks of things just in time - his face was bright red.

My son and I did a bunch of work this morning getting ready for the storm and decided we'd go to the Groveland Diner for lunch before things got ridiculously bad. At the diner, I kid you not.... they are selling Blizzard Survival Kits for $6.99. A loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, and a half gallon of milk. And people were buying them! It was hysterical to sit there eating my lunch, and watching folks come in out of the snow to go home with a take out order of lunch AND the survival kit. The only things missing are a roll of toilet paper and a bottle of vodka.

It made me think of Universal Hub, and how much fun I've had over the years (seven!) that I've been here. I remember meeting a lot of people here through their Stormpocalypse postings in the past, and I had to share this with you guys.

Hope you've got your fixin's. Be safe out there everyone.

Tania deLuzuriaga photographed her neighbor's lazy-ass space saving on Savin Hill early in the storm.

Potential penalties of up to a year in jail and a fine of $500. Emergency workers and certain other critical workers - fuel-oil, plow, hospital, utility workers - are exempted. So are reporters.

• Complete emergency declaration

Greg Hum walked across the Longfellow early this afternoon.

Channel 7's Nancy Chen just checked in from a hill in Worcester. Drink! Then she bent down and picked up some snow to make a snowball. But, darn, the snow was so dry, it just disintegrated. So we'll rate than a half drink.

NASA's posted this satellite photo of the two storms combining to give us the MegaKillerDeathStorm. See it larger.

Best business closing sign of the storm.

And e-mail me, and I'll post here, natch.

John Swenson reports that sailboat swept onto Carson Beach during Sandy is still there.

This morning, Gary Waldeck went down to the Common with a ruler, and Cantore signed it. "Super nice guy," he reports.

Last night, Jim Cantore of the Weather Channel was looking for people to smack with his yardstick at that Zakim overlook by the Garden. This morning, Al Roker was on the Common. Anybody seen Anderson Cooper yet?

Alex Mellion went out this morning and posed with Cantore and Roker.