Open-night skating festivities scheduled for Nov. 18 have been indefinitely postponed due to warm weather.

A.P. Blake photographed his family's snowy pumpkinhead in Saugus today.

Boston Metro (@metrobos) reporter Steve Annear (@steveannear) tweeted at around 1:00pm this afternoon:

This tops my list of crazy decisions. And I've made many. On a doubledecker bus in the storm en route to #Nyc and the tires are spinning.

This was his update, at 1:31am:

Have now officially been on a bus to #nyc from #boston for 12.5 hours with no food or water and an hour on the snowy roads to go.

Cannibalism will be forgiven.

UPDATE: 364,000 customers without power as of 11 p.m.

Gov. Patrick has declared a state of emergency as tens of thousands of homes go dark and cars skid off roads.

The Mass. Emergency Management Agency reports 154,608 customers without power as of 7 p.m. That number probably went up around 8:30 p.m.; Bob Pepe reports:

Explosion seen from Rte. 128 south Westwood-Dedham...2 separate blasts. Lit up the sky.

Sheeps Eating Me asks the question, adds:

Grew up in Atlanta and we were this crazy there, but...

Channel 5 reporter Cheryl Fiandaca just made the first on-air snowball of the season, out in Ashburnham - after, of course, kneeling to pick up some snow. OK, it looked more like an iceball than a snowball, which is probably why she didn't throw it at the cameraman.

Meira Levinson of the Arborway explains the ice problem she and other parkway residents have.

MBTA officials told a City Council committee today they will commit resources this winter to shovel out bus stops in Boston - and the connections to the sidewalks behind them.

At a hearing called by City Councilor Matt O'Malley (West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain), a T official said the authority will have at least 72 people dedicated to keeping bus stops clear during and after storms - with some additional help from more than 200 subway-station workers. The T is not technically responsible for bus-stop clearing, but pitched in this past winter as storm after storm left stops inaccessible to riders.

Meanwhile, the state Department of Conservation and Recreation says it is considering snowplows that push to the left instead of the right for the populated parkways that pass through Boston, such as the Arborway, the Jamaicaway and the VFW Parkway.

No, not Motif Number 1. Gloucester's greasy pole.

Thank goodness for increasing wind shear, a low over our heads and the cooler waters of the North Atlantic.