Week's weather review      

[FEB. 21, 2006]  HOPEWELL JUNCTION, N.Y. -- Weather highlights are courtesy of Compu-Weather, nationwide leader in forensic weather consulting, analysis and reporting.

Travel weather

Southeast soaker: Flights in and out of the Atlanta and Charlotte hubs will likely see some delays this week. A slow-moving weather system will keep skies cloudy over much of the Southeast through Thursday, and along with the clouds will come periods of rain. Elsewhere however, the weather will be quiet this week. A few snow or rain showers may fall across New York, Boston and Philadelphia later this week, but by no means will it be a significant storm. Chicago should see dry weather through Friday, as will Denver. On the West Coast, no rain is expected in San Francisco or Los Angeles, though both may see a bit of fog during the morning hours.

Eastern U.S.

Winter roars back: Less than a week after a blizzard produced record snowfall in New York City and shut down traffic from the mid-Atlantic region into New England, frigid air and biting winds surged in across the eastern third of the nation. Hurricane-force winds knocked down trees and power lines across upstate New York, sending 328,000 customers into the dark. Another 75,000 lost electricity in New Hampshire and Maine as winds gusted over 60 mph. On Stratton Mountain in Vermont, a wind gust of 143 mph was reported. At least five deaths are being blamed on the weather. Four of the victims died as a result of falling trees, the fifth from carbon monoxide poisoning. Arctic air rode in on the strong winds, dropping temperatures in parts of western New York from the 60s into the 20s in just a few hours.

Midwest U.S.

White-out wipe-out: A blinding lake-effect snow squall coming off Lake Michigan caused an 86-vehicle chain-reaction pile-up on U.S. Highway 31 on Feb. 12. Drivers began to slow as the snow created white-out conditions and were rear-ended by vehicles behind them that were unable to stop. The two-mile stretch of highway was closed for several hours. Authorities did not issue any citations, as it appeared that everyone was driving as well as they could under the conditions.

Worldwide

Village taken by landslide: Nearly 2,000 people are still missing and presumed to be dead after a landslide engulfed an entire village in the Philippines on Friday. Twenty survivors were pulled from the mud and debris that came pouring down a hillside that had been soaked and loosened after two weeks of relentless rainfall. Three days later, another landslide on a Philippine island hundreds of miles away killed at least five people. Hundreds of others remain missing.

[Compu-Weather]