(Colter Peterson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — A late winter storm dropped more than a foot of snow on parts of the northeastern U.S. overnight — prompting school closures across the region, knocking out power to thousands and slowing the Monday morning commute to a crawl.

The storm, which hit the hardest in the early morning hours of Monday, dumped more than a foot of fresh snow on a large swath of New England, hitting some areas that had gotten off relatively unscathed for most of the winter.

The National Weather Service's Boston-area office says as of Monday morning, areas to the west and south of the city received the most snow, with 16 inches (41 centimeters) in Sharon, more than 15 inches (38 centimeters) in Weymouth and Foxborough, and 14 inches (36 centimeters) in Framingham and Natick, according to unofficial measurements.