Winter Storm Blankets U.S. With Snow

Winter Storm Blankets U.S. With Snow

Nearly a third of the U.S. population affected, more than 2,100 flights canceled

TIME Magazine 2 Jan. 2014

 

More than 100 million people — almost one-third of the U.S. population — are in the path of a vicious winter storm that started battering the midwest and the east coast with snow on Thursday.

Across the country, 2,144 flights had been canceled and 6,738 delayed by Thursday evening, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. In Boston — which expects up to 18 inches of snow — authorities at Logan International Airport had already canceled or delayed dozens of flights, the Boston Globe reports. The airport’s last departure Thursday was scheduled for 8:30 p.m. and planes will not be brought in for scheduled Friday morning flights. Boston authorities warned up to two feet of snow could accumulate in some places.

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning through Friday morning for the northeastern United States on Thursday, warning that “falling and blowing snow with strong winds and poor visibility are likely. This will lead to whiteout conditions…making travel extremely dangerous.”

The warning contained a blunt piece of advice for those in the storm’s path: “Do not travel.”

The storm is bringing winter weather to parts of the country stretching from Illinois to the eastern seaboard and Maine to North Carolina, with the harshest conditions expected in the area from West Virginia and Maryland to southern Maine, the Weather Channel reports. As the storm moves across the eastern U.S., temperatures in the region are plunging to below freezing, snarling transportation networks with up to a foot of snow in some places.

Residents of New York City braced for up to 12 inches of snow between Thursday evening and Friday morning, with wind chills as low as minus-10 degrees Fahrenheit and temperatures expected to persist in the single digits into Saturday, CNN reports. Albany, in upstate New York, was facing up to 14 inches of snow and wind chills as cold as 25-below zero. The storm will be at its worst between 8 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. Friday.

Up to eleven inches of snow were predicted to fall on Chicago on Thursday according to the national weather service, and more than 300 flights were cancelled Thursday morning at O’Hare International Airport. As a central travel hub, O’Hare clocks in as the most affected airport by the storm. Newark’s Liberty International Airport, New York’s LaGuardia Airport and Cleveland’s Hopkins Airport are also among the most affected.

In the Midwest and south United States, the frigid air is expected to continue into next week, as winter weather moves south Monday and Tuesday bringing temperatures as low as zero degrees as far south as Nashville.

Snow Covers Midwest and Northeast As Storm Rages

Kiichiro Sato / AP

A morning commuter walks against blowing snow in Chicago, Jan. 2, 2014.

Twitter users began posting pictures Thursday of the wintry mix as the storm began its assault on the Eastern U.S.
[CNN]