New York to face 5-6 inches of snow as freezing Florida sees first snow in THIRTY years
A RARE type of winter storm hit the US southeast, dumping snow on Florida's capital for the first time in thirty years and snarling travel, while New England braced for a "bombogenesis" blizzard forecast to bring heavy accumulations today.
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The governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia declared states of emergency, warning residents to expect icy roads and freezing temperatures. In the northeast, work crews loaded trucks with road salt in advance of the storm.
The New York City Department of Education said it would close public schools today because of severe weather.
The National Weather Service predicted New York could see 5-8 inches of snow and wind gusts as high as 50mph today.
Much of the eastern United States is in the grips of a sustained cold spell that has frozen parts of Niagara Falls on the American and Canadian sides, played havoc with public works causing pipes to freeze and water mains to burst, and impeded firefighting in places where temperatures barely broke 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
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EPA
This one is unique in how quickly the pressure is going to fall. The pressures could rival a Category 1 or Category 2 hurricane.
The cold has been blamed for at least nine deaths over the past few days, including two homeless people in Houston.
Police in Roseville, Michigan, said on Wednesday that a 96-year-old woman, recently diagnosed with dementia, was found dead in a playground, apparently having frozen to death after wandering outside in a robe and slippers.
The National Weather Service had blizzard warnings in effect from Virginia to Maine, with areas around Boston expected to see about a foot of snow today.
Snow would fall quickly during the day, at a rate of several inches per hour, with the storm intensified by the "bombogenesis" effect, private forecaster Accuweather warned.
EPA
"Bombogenesis," also known as a "bomb cyclone," occurs when a storm's barometric pressure drops by 24 millibars in 24 hours, greatly strengthening the storm.
The effect is seen along the Northeastern coast every winter, but this storm will be particularly powerful, said Judah Cohen, a visiting scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"This one is unique in how quickly the pressure is going to fall," Cohen said. "The pressures could rival a Category 1 or Category 2 hurricane."
An arctic air mass will remain entrenched over the eastern two-thirds of the United States through the end of the week.
