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 The first major winter storm of 2014 brought bone-chilling
temperatures and high winds from the lower Mississippi Valley to the
Atlantic coast, with nearly 2 feet of snow falling in some areas of
Massachusetts.
Much of the U.S. northeast saw heavy snowfall and plummeting
temperatures late on Thursday and early on Friday morning, said
Jared Guyer, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The weather service said the mass of Arctic air would drop
temperatures to levels 20 to 30 degrees below normal, with record
lows possible on Friday.
It was still snowing in some places, such as Boston, "but we are
probably past the peak in terms of intensity at this point," Guyer
said, adding that the bitter cold and snow-scattering winds showed
no signs of letting up.
Snowfall reports varied widely, with Washington receiving more than
2 inches, Baltimore some 3 to 6 inches, Philadelphia roughly 5
inches, Hartford 6 to 10 inches and Boston some 14 inches.
"If it's going to be cold, it might as well snow," said Zander
Fortier, a 29-year-old architect from Boston's Roslindale
neighborhood, where the flakes fell steadily on Thursday.
Residents grappled on Friday with road and school closures
throughout the region.
"Severe weather conditions" led officials to close New York City
public schools on Friday morning. Schools were also closed in
Hoboken and Jersey City, in New Jersey, and in Boston and Providence
Massachusetts.
The storm also posed the first major challenge to Bill de Blasio,
the newly-elected Mayor of New York, which expected to see up to 8
inches of snow. More than 1,400 U.S. flights were canceled and
more than 340 were delayed early on Friday, according to
flightaware.com.
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New York's three major airports prepared hundreds of cots to
accommodate stranded travelers and Logan International Airport said
that up to a quarter of its scheduled flights had been canceled on
Thursday.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday warned people to stay in
their homes and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick told
non-essential state workers to head home on Thursday, as did his
officials in neighboring Connecticut.
"Tomorrow people should definitely consider staying in their homes
if the storm continues as we expect," said New York Governor Andrew
Cuomo. "This is nothing to be trifled with. We have learned too well
over the past few years the power of Mother Nature. We have seen the
damage that has been done."
A city worker in Philadelphia was killed after a machine he was
using was crushed by a mound of de-icing rock salt, NBC News
reported. In Chicago, a man was in critical condition after being
pulled out of an icy Lake Michigan by fire fighters.
(Additional reporting by Victoria Cavaliere, Marina Lopes and Scott
DiSavino in New York, Daniel Lovering in Cambridge, Mass.,
Ian Simpson in Washington, and Lisa Garza in Dallas; writing by Eric
M. Johnson; editing by Clive McKeef.)
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