Storm barrels down on region

More than 5,000 power outages have been reported, and officials in Marshfield are expected to ask residents to evacuate as the storm intensifies.

John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

Beacon Street was a ghost town at 5 p.m. on Friday, when it is usually backed up with cars.

Barry Chin/Globe Staff

The Lincoln Tavern and Restaurant in South Boston was busy as people crowded in.

David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

Conor Larkin's Grill & Tap near Northeastern University gave students a place to enjoy themselves in the storm.

Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

People found a way to enjoy the storm in Quincy.

David L. Ryan / Globe Staff

The Mass. Pike, normally a bane of commuters on Friday afternoons, was almost completely empty.

David L. Ryan / Globe Staff

After the 4 p.m. driving ban, some resorted to other modes of transportation.

David L. Ryan / Globe Staff

The longtime South Boston tradition of saving parking spaces began early.

John Tlumacki / Globe Staff

A woman tried to shield her face from the snow.

The snowstorm was expected to pick up in intensity as the day wore on.

John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

The streets of Boston were eerily quiet as the storm began.

Snow started covering the mall in the middle of Commonwealth Avenue in Boston on Friday afternoon.

John Tlumacki/Globe Staff

Snow started covering the mall in the middle of Commonwealth Avenue in Boston on Friday afternoon.

John Tlumacki / Globe Staff

Strong winds turned an umbrella inside out in downtown Boston.

Suzanne Kreiter / Globe Staff

Governor Patrick announced a state of emergency and vehicle ban for the state.

John Tlumacki / Globe Staff

People waited at a bus stop at South Station.

People walked along Ocean Side Drive in Scituate as snow began to fall this morning.

Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff

People walked along Ocean Side Drive in Scituate as snow began to fall this morning.

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Snow collected on boats on the Charles River.

Travelers lined up to catch flights out of Logan Airport Friday morning.

David L. Ryan/Globe Staff

Travelers lined up to catch flights out of Logan Airport Friday morning.

Cars were stuck in traffic in Newington, N.H., as the winter storm arrived Friday morning.

Jim Cole/Associated Press

Cars were stuck in traffic in Newington, N.H., as the winter storm arrived Friday morning.

Jack Percoco of Cambridge reached into depleted shelves for milk at a supermarket in Somerville.

Elise Amendola/Associated Press

Jack Percoco of Cambridge reached into depleted shelves for milk at a supermarket in Somerville.

The storm system approached the Northeast Friday morning.

NOAA/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The storm system approached the Northeast Friday morning.

Longfellow Bridge

Storm grinds Boston’s bustle to a halt

Activity in the area was uncharacteristically muted today, as the massive snowstorm caused many to work from home and canceled numerous events.

A Friday that felt like a Sunday

The roads and stores went quiet, and the region seemed hungover from the mad rush the night before to prepare for the blizzard.

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The latest coverage from Globe reporters and the social media world.

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//c.o0bg.com/rf/image_90x90/Boston/2011-2020/2013/02/08/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/wind90x90.gif Wind speed in your town

This graphic tracks the projected wind speed for Massachusetts towns during the snowstorm.

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Dr. Carol Warfield (second from left) is flanked by attorneys (from left) Ellen Zucker, Laura Studen, and Lynn Norton.

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BLO’s Opera Annex premieres MacMillan’s ‘Clemency’

Sports

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Celtics notebook

Kevin Garnett joined the NBA’s exclusive 25,000-point club.

Kevin Garnett wants to retire a Celtic

After joining the 25,000-point club, Garnett expressed his desire to retire in Boston.

Metro

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Calle Cronk (center), who spends much of her time undergoing medical tests, enjoyed a recent dance class.

5-year-old Calle Cronk, her family fight rare illness

Calle’s parents have raised $100,000 to support an ambitious clinical trial that aims to cure a disease that has spawned a tumor in her brain.

Columnists

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Patrick’s tax-and-spending plan too ambitious

JOAN WICKERSHAM

Grief doesn’t have a timeline

Kevin Cullen

Whitey Bulger’s wily ways

Kobe Bryant (right) was sitting late, coach Mike D’Antoni (second from left) sparing him the indignity of a blowout.

Christopher L. Gasper

Celtics, Lakers at opposite ends of the court
The Superdome in New Orleans was darkened during a power outage in the third quarter of the Super Bowl Sunday.

JULIETTE KAYYEM

‘Frank, we lost the A feed’

EDWARD L. GLAESER

Boston’s plague of cheap parking

Yvonne Abraham

Marty Walz a loss on Beacon Hill
The Surface with Windows 8 Pro, is a full-fledged Windows laptop crammed into a sleek black touchscreen tablet.

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Microsoft’s tablet laptop-hybrid misses the mark
US Attorney Carmen Ortiz spoke at a news conference in Boston Jan. 17 regarding her office's case against Internet freedom activist Aaron Swartz.

JOAN VENNOCHI

The fallout for Carmen Ortiz

Adrian Walker

Roxcomp missed payday

JEFF JACOBY

A guaranteed flop for Mass.
State Representative Dan Winslow talked with bank officials last March during a meeting at the Wrentham Co-operative Bank.

SCOT LEHIGH

Finally, Mass. GOP has some likely candidates

Nation & World

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John Kerry’s first news conference as secretary of state

Kerry says US weighing Syria options

In his first news conference as secretary of state, John Kerry said the US is evaluating new options to halt Syria’s civil war.

Politics

Protesters disrupted the Senate hearing on John O. Brennan’s nomination as CIA chief.

John Brennan is grilled on drones

Brennan came under unexpectedly intense questioning about drone strikes, information leaks, and the CIA’s former interrogation program.

Business

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A second act, banker style, for former Sovereign CEO

Jay Sidhu, pushed out as chief executive of Sovereign Bancorp in 2006, could be making a New England comeback.

Arts

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Art Review

“Solomon Enthroned,” a folio from a 16th-century manuscript of the “Shahnama” (“Book of Kings”), from the “In Harmony” exhibit of Islamic art at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum.

The appeal of the Persianate

The beguiled collection of Islamic art the late Stanford and Norma Jean Calderwood donated to Harvard University is on display at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum.

Movies

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Movie Review

Rooney Mara and Channing Tatum as a troubled married couple in Steven Soderbergh’s “Side Effects.”

Sex, lies, and prescription drugs in ‘Side Effects’

Director Steven Soderbergh’s puzzle of a murder mystery is a challenge and a delight.

Magazine

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Alfresco fabulous

Opinion

“As he looks to his legacy, Patrick has offered a plan that’s clearly too ambitious for these times.”

Scot Lehigh 

Ideas

“To rein prosecutors back in, these scholars argue, America should reinstate ordinary citizens to their rightful place in the process, and with them a common-sense vision of fairness.”

Leon Neyfakh on how to solve prosecutorial overreach 

“This is supposed to be quite a damaging storm. It’s very important for customers to be prepared for widespread, prolonged power outages.”

Deborah Drew,  a spokeswoman for National Grid