BOSTON -- Thousands remained without electricity for a sixth day Wednesday as snow arrived in the Bay State and utility crews continued around-the-clock efforts to restore power in Massachusetts. Some residents may not get power restored until Christmas.

While the latest storm was expected to hamper efforts to cleanup and restore power, legislative leaders warned that the state may have to tap its reserve fund to help pay for damage from last week's ice storm. Two more storms are predicted for Friday night and Sunday.

Power May Not Be Back Until Christmas | Lowell Gets Snow, Readies For More | Crews Still Working to Restore Power

Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency said approximately 37,000 customers statewide remained without electricity Wednesday afternoon, down from about 70,000 Tuesday afternoon.

Unitil, the electricity provider for many in the central Massachusetts region, said the total number of customer outages across its system Wednesday was estimated at 17,218, including 10,779 customers out in Massachusetts.

The company said restoration of all primary circuits in Massachusetts was expected on Thursday in Fitchburg, Friday in Townsend and Lunenburg, and on the weekend in Ashby, again subject to weather.

Crews from as far away as Pennsylvania have traveled to New England to help with the cleanup.

In Worcester, a wintry mix of rain, sleet and snow was expected to further complicate recovery efforts from the city, which was particularly hard hit by last week's ice storm.

"This storm was relatively light, mainly some sleet, a little bit of accumulation. We are more concerned about Friday night -- 6 to 12 inches," Worcester City Manager Michael O'Brien said.

Worcester DPW crews, which had been working to removed downed trees and branches, were deployed to clear snow and residents were asked to pitch in and move fallen debris from their own streets and yards so plows could clear snow from the roads.

"We hope it's a sanding and salt operation, not a plowing operation, and we're literally doing novenas to hope that's the case. Inevitably, if it is a plowing operation, we'll keep the streets open and passable, that's our job, but it's going to complicate cleanup efforts from this ice event that we're still reeling from, from last Thursday," O'Brien said.

Worcester city officials urged resident not to block roadway with tree debris because it can slow efforts to get power back online and could pose a public safety danger.

Some residents may not get power restored until Christmas.

"From the looks of it, it will definitely flow into next week -- especially with the pending storm coming for the weekend. It slows the process of the crews down. I don't see 100 percent completion until the end of next week," said Ashby Emergency Director Mike Russell.

In downtown Fitchburg, another hard-hit area, streets looked clearer, but about one-third of the town, some 9,000 customers, was still in the dark. Schools were closed for the remainder of the week because school officials said roads were still too dangerous for school buses to navigate.

In Lowell, freezing rain and snow fell early in the morning, creating hazardous driving conditions for motorists during the morning commute and prompting plow drivers and sanders to hit the roads.

"We are going to have plowable snow by the end of the week. By Sunday, they say we are going to have a foot, foot and a half on the ground after it is all said and done," said Ed Flynn of Lowell DPW.

A winter storm advisory was to be in effect through 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, with gradual clearing through the day and then sun on Thursday. Large portions of the South Shore and Cape were seeing mostly rain, while there was a mix along the Massachusetts Turnpike southwest of Boston, turning to snow and sleet northwest of Boston into New Hampshire.

House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi and Ways and Means Committee chairman Robert DeLeo toured hard hit areas of Worcester County Tuesday.

DeLeo said the state might have to tap its $1.7 billion rainy day fund to cover the state's share of what DiMasi estimated would be $20 million in storm-related costs.

Shovels, ice scrapers and ice melt is flying off the shelves at area hardware stores.

"We have been getting calls requesting ice melt to be delivered, rock salt delivered to our regular customers. It has been pretty heavy today so far," said hardware store clerk Dick Maurais.