Overnight Parking Bans: What 43 Towns' Snow Rules Show

Every November the same question comes up on every street in Greater Boston: can I leave the car out tonight? The honest answer depends entirely on which side of a town line you live on.

We read the published snow and parking rules for 43 cities and towns, from Andover to East Boston, and logged what each one actually says. Every rule below was checked against the town’s own pages on November 8, 2026. Where a page could not be opened or says nothing, we say that instead of guessing.

The big split: standing bans vs. storm-only bans

Towns fall into three groups.

• Standing overnight ban (18 towns). A fixed rule: no street parking during set hours, all winter or all year, snow or no snow.
• Storm-only ban (19 towns). Nothing on the books overnight, but the city or town declares a snow emergency and everyone must move.
• Unverified (4 towns). Arlington, Chelsea, Danvers and Lynnfield pages could not be read in full, so call the DPW. Arlington and Chelsea appear to be storm-only.

Two more towns sit in between. Malden limits parking to one side of the street around the clock once it calls the first significant storm, until April 1. Medford bars driveway-equipped homes from parking on the street more than an hour between midnight and 7 a.m., and any car left 48 straight hours can be towed.

Towns with a standing overnight ban

A few things jump out.

The start date varies by a full seven weeks. Tewksbury and Westford begin on November 1, which means the rule is already live. North Reading and Woburn start November 15. Most towns wait until December 1. Nahant starts last, on December 21.

Four towns never take a break. Bedford, Belmont, Melrose and Winchester ban overnight street parking all year, and the Saugus rules we read apply every night too. If you moved from a town without one, the rule still applies in July.

The end date is April 1 almost everywhere, with Dracut (March 15) and Nahant (March 20) the early finishers. North Reading runs longest, to April 15. Middleton’s own pages disagree, one saying April 1 and another April 15.

Woburn is the odd one. Its ordinance, as we read it, covers only the even-numbered side of the street from 2 to 6 a.m., so the odd side is fair game unless signs say otherwise. The city’s winter advisory page showed only an old emergency notice when we checked, so confirm the current rule with the city.

Towns that only ban parking in a declared emergency

Nineteen towns have no fixed overnight rule: Beverly, Billerica, Cambridge, Charlestown, East Boston, Chelmsford, Everett, Lowell, Lynn, Marblehead, Peabody, Revere, Salem, Somerville, Swampscott, Topsfield, Tyngsborough, Wakefield and Winthrop. In these places a snow emergency is declared, usually by the mayor, police chief or DPW, and street parking is restricted for as long as it lasts.

How it works varies more than you would think:

• Salem declares an emergency and its garages drop to $5 per 24 hours starting two hours before the declared start. Winthrop’s starts once the National Weather Service or media announce expected snow.
• Lowell gives you 6 hours from the declaration to get off the street. Somerville gives 4 hours to move to the even side or a municipal lot, and then fines are $100 each.
• Cambridge, Boston, Medford and Everett restrict specific arteries or one side of the street rather than every street.
• Topsfield effectively has a ban any time it snows.
• Wakefield dropped its all-night winter ban entirely; it now relies on announcements by Everbridge alert.

What a ticket and a tow actually cost

Most towns publish a fine but not a tow fee. The ones that do show how much the bill can differ:

Chelmsford’s $10 and Lynn’s totals are not typos; towns wrote their ordinances in different decades. In Lynn, a ticket plus tow plus one day of storage adds up to $380 before you have your car back. In Somerville the same math comes to about $267.

What we could not confirm

Some answers are simply not on the town’s website. Melrose, Wakefield and Woburn do not publish a tow company or fee. Arlington, Chelsea, Danvers and Lynnfield pages could not be opened on November 8. Andover’s seasonal rule comes from an archived copy of the bylaw and the town notes current enforcement is not confirmed. Where a rule is dated (Saugus’s traffic rules run through 2016), check with the town.

Practical takeaways

1. Find your town on the tables above, then confirm on its own page. Rules change at Town Meeting, and we cannot promise a rule is current after the date we checked.
2. If you commute through several towns, learn the strictest one. Parking overnight on the street in Melrose or Winchester is not allowed in any month.
3. Know your alternatives before the storm. A driveway, a town lot, a garage, or a friend two towns over.
4. Be off the street before the declaration, not after. In Winthrop the ban begins once the National Weather Service or media announce expected snow, and Salem’s garage rates start two hours before a declared emergency.

The same dataset also holds sidewalk deadlines, hydrant rules and tow contacts for each town. SnowPass publishes the full town-by-town reference in its snow day book.

Sources

• City of Melrose: Parking in Melrosecityofmelrose.org
• Town of Tewksbury: Snow and ice bylawstewksbury-ma.gov
• Town of Westford: Public Workswestfordma.gov
• Town of Middleton: Snow removal policiesmiddletonma.gov
• Town of Nahant: Parking in Nahantnahant.org
• City of Woburn: Winter advisorywoburnma.gov
• City of Lynn: Parking for snow emergencieslynnma.gov
• City of Somerville: Snowsomervillema.gov
• City of Boston: Snowboston.gov
• City of Cambridge: Snowcambridgema.gov

Details such as dates, hours and prices come from the sources above and can change. Check with the organizer before you go.