Winter storm takes aim at Northeast
The storm that blanketed parts of the U.S. South with ice and snow yesterday is now pounding the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, hampering travel and aiming to drop what could be a foot of snow in the New York City area by the time it is done.
At least 16 deaths have been blamed on the weather -- many of them relating to traffic accidents. The weather has left hundreds of thousands of customers without power -- the vast majority of whom were in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Follow this blog for a roundup of the latest news and a close-up provided by those experiencing the weather.
At least 16 deaths have been blamed on the weather -- many of them relating to traffic accidents. The weather has left hundreds of thousands of customers without power -- the vast majority of whom were in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Follow this blog for a roundup of the latest news and a close-up provided by those experiencing the weather.
by Jason.Hanna
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White Out Conditions in Freehold, New Jersey
CNN iReportNick Andreacci, a teacher from Freehold, New Jersey, woke up to this winter white out this morning. "I'm a skier, so I don't mind the snow," he said. "But the effect of school closings on the community is very disruptive." If the weather continues to worsen and schools close again tomorrow, it will be his school district's seventh snow day this year.
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The New York City area is getting hit especially hard by snow right now -- near-blizzard conditions are being reported in northern New York City, the lower Hudson Valley, northeast New Jersey and coastal Connecticut, CNN meteorologist Sean Morris says. The snowfall could be at a rate of up to 4 inches per hour.
Two to 4 inches of snow fell per hour this morning over portions of southeastern New York, including parts of Manhattan, according to the National Weather Service. The rate was slightly lower at Manhattan's Central Park: At 7 a.m., only 2 inches had accumulated, but the total was 5 inches by 9 a.m., the weather service said.
For New York City: Snow could change to a rain/snow mix after noon, and then rain mixed with sleet after 3 p.m. An additional 3 to 6 inches of snow will be possible there from now until early Friday.
by Jason.Hanna -
Yesterday, the storm disrupted life in the South and the Mid-Atlantic, laying down enough ice and snow to disrupt power for hundreds of thousands of utility customers -- especially in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina -- and causing significant traffic messes in North Carolina, including the Raleigh area. As of about 10 a.m. ET Thursday, the storm had pulled the plug on more than 772,000 customers across 14 states and the District of Columbia.
On Wednesday, a lot of folks stayed home and snapped pictures of themselves whiling the time away indoors, or of their frozen surroundings. Our partners at HLNTV.com collected a bunch of Instagram pictures showing how people in the South spent their frozen day. -
Some people in the New York area -- which could see about a foot of snow by the time the storm leaves early Friday -- appear to be frustrated that schools were open today.Most kids will walk on dangerous sidewalks today in NYC. Teachers that commute are screwed. #schoolday #fail #deblasioFeb. 13, 2014
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Looking forward to the news conference #NYC #socialist Mayor #deblasio is going to give for not closing schools today #noreasterFeb. 13, 2014- Reply
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@DavidUshery4NY I think it was mistaken to open NYC schools today DeBlasio using schools as babysitter and free food serviceFeb. 13, 2014- Reply
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Yesterday, the storm disrupted life in the South and the Mid-Atlantic, laying down enough ice and snow to disrupt power for hundreds of thousands of utility customers -- especially in Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina -- and causing significant traffic messes in North Carolina, including the Raleigh area. As of about 10 a.m. ET Thursday, the storm had pulled the plug on more than 772,000 customers across 14 states and the District of Columbia.
On Wednesday, a lot of folks stayed home and snapped pictures of themselves whiling the time away indoors, or of their frozen surroundings. Our partners at HLNTV.com collected a bunch of Instagram pictures showing how people in the South spent their frozen day. -
DC SNOW UPDATE
CNN iReportCNN photojournalist Jay McMichael shows the condition of a major artery in Washington, D.C. -
Here's a look at the snow in western Virginia. CNN iReporter BobSchwabk took this photo outside his apartment building in Salem on Thursday morning. "(It is) about knee high after snowing all night," he said. "(I) will probably spend the day digging my car out and staying off the roads."
Snowpocalypse in Western Virginia
CNN iReport -
A day after ice and snow blanketed parts of Georgia and cut power for tens of thousands in the state, temperatures are forecast to warm into the 40s, which will help clear the roads.
Atlanta-area schools are closed for the day -- quite an opportunity for kids to have some fun at the city's Piedmont Park, as CNN's Nick Valencia shows us:Lots of sledding at Piedmont Park in Atlanta. Kids hamming it up for the #CNN & Weather Channel news crews http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BgXOpLLIIAEr5L0.jpg
Feb. 13, 2014- Reply
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We noted earlier that some people were wondering why New York City
schools -- with its roughly 1 million students -- were open during
Thursday's snowstorm, even as the mayor declared a city emergency. New
York City Mayor Bill de Blasio gave some answers in his news
conference minutes ago:
1) It was a tough decision, but officials believed children could get to school safely Thursday morning. Snow later came down sooner and faster than expected, which could make departures tricky, but, "within the information we had," city officials made the right decision to open the schools, he said.
2) Huge numbers of New Yorkers still had to go to work, and they needed a safe place for their children to be during the day.
3) De Blasio said he believed that since 1979, New York City schools have closed only 11 times.
He also took an indirect swipe at other cities, saying New York doesn't typically shut down in the face of adversity.
After-school programs are canceled today, he said. -
A quick look at what winter looks like in another part of the country: Check out these "ice caves" in the northern lower peninsula of Michigan.
CNN affiliate WPBN took video of these enormous ice accumulations off the shore of Lake Michigan near Leland. Cold air, high winds and waves helped create them; some are as tall as 30 feet. -
Hold your noses for this news, New York City residents: Because of a combination of the snow, the weekend and Presidents Day, trash and recycling collection won't resume "in earnest" until Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
There might be a few exceptions, he said at a news conference, and people still should put out their trash as usual. "Where we have the opportunity to get at it (before Tuesday), we will," he said. -
Al Roker, weather anchor for NBC's "Today" show, is not impressed with the New York City mayor's explanation for why city schools were open today.How dare @NYCMayorsOffice @NYCSchools throw NWS under the school bus. Forecast was on time and on the moneyFeb. 13, 2014- Reply
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@NYCMayorsOffice says snow was faster/heavier than expected. No, Mr. Mayor. It came as predicted. Don't blame weather for YOUR poor policyFeb. 13, 2014- Reply
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For context, see New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's explanation a few posts below. -
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More than 5,700 flights were canceled Thursday as the storm hit the Mid-Atlantic and the Northeast, according to Flightaware.com. Most of those were flights originating or arriving at Charlotte International, Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson, and Philadelphia International airports.
All runways were closed as of 11:45 a.m. ET Thursday at the Washington-area Dulles International and Reagan National airports. Here's a recent update from Dulles on Twitter:New mwaa.com/snow update: We remain closed to flights, but are making progress clearing snow. No estimate of reopen time.Feb. 13, 2014- Reply
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On its website, Dulles said some international flights from Europe were due to arrive in the early afternoon or mid-afternoon Thursday, and airport crews were "working hard to ensure their safe arrival." -
US Airways is calling it quits at North Carolina's Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Thursday -- the airline's flights in and out of the airport have been canceled for the rest of the day, spokesman Davien Anderson said.
Anderson said he hoped that flights would resume Friday. Charlotte was hit hard by the storm Wednesday, and 2 to 4 more inches of snow are expected to fall there Thursday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
US Airways, which has a hub in Charlotte, has been busy addressing customer concerns on Twitter:
Weather has severely impacted travel in Eastern U.S. Check your travel options/flight status: bit.ly/ALERTUS pic.twitter.com/EbSI3GcYzw
Feb. 13, 2014- Reply
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@geoffreysweeks Geoff, sorry for the long hold time. The agents will be with you as soon as possible.Feb. 13, 2014- Reply
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@a10waveracer Jason, we know long hold times are frustrating and apologize. The team is working hard to answer your call.Feb. 13, 2014- Reply
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@betsythemuffin Sorry, we're receiving more calls than we can handle, please have him keep trying.Feb. 13, 2014- Reply
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@adamstokar Sorry for the disappointment. If travel's complete, you can share info with Customer Relations Here: bit.ly/CRContactFeb. 13, 2014- Reply
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@camilodeza Camilo, the agents are working hard to answer all calls. Sorry for the disappointment.Feb. 13, 2014- Reply
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@labeles Sorry for the disappointment. Please reach out to Reservations if you need rebooking help.Feb. 13, 2014- Reply
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@litsnitch Sorry, we're receiving more calls than we can handle, please try again later.Feb. 13, 2014- Reply
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A father and son take a hovercraft out onto Albert Lea Lake in Minnesota and save two deer trapped on the ice. Video courtesy GoPro.
GoPro: Hovercraft Deer Rescueby GoPro via YouTube -
Gentleman cop helps woman cross street in Crown Heights fw.to/gq5owzG via @NYDNTinaMoore pic.twitter.com/sFn5CM5KOa
Feb. 13, 2014- Reply
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CNN's Chris Kokenes gives us this photo from Leonia, New Jersey. "Falling trees are a threat, but we've been lucky thus far and have not had any power outages," he told CNN's iReport.
Leonia is not far from Fort Lee and the George Washington Bridge, which connects New Jersey to Manhattan.
Snow Leonia NJ
CNN iReport -
by Jason.Hanna
How is the weather affecting you?Send us your photos and videos of snow, ice and sleet -- only if it is safe to do so -- by tagging your social media images #cnnireport or visiting CNN's iReport. Or use the CNN app.
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#Airmen of the #Georgia @AirNatlGuard 's 165th ASOS working right now in #augusta clearing roads of debris. #wx #pax http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BgX8tDWCEAEw2NR.png
by GA National Guard via twitter 2/13/2014 6:48:52 PM -
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More than a foot of snow has fallen in Pound Ridge, New York, near the Connecticut state line. CNN iReporter Robert Ondrovic captured this photo in Pound Ridge on Thursday morning when a splash of color caught his eye.
A Splash of Color in a Whiteout
CNN iReport -
A band of heavy snow -- falling at a rate of 3 to 6 inches per hour -- was going through southern Connecticut early Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service said. Wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph also were being recorded along the Connecticut coastline, it said.
Here's what the Connecticut communities of Bristol (first picture) and Vernon looked like Thursday. Photos by Julie Stagis from CNN affiliate FoxCT.
photo by Julie Stagis from CNN affiliate FoxCTby Jason.Hanna
photo by Julie Stagis from CNN affiliate FoxCTby Jason.Hanna1 of 2
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"All it takes is one accident, and then it just starts backing up." -- Deanna Hunt, North Carolina.
Deanna Hunt was one of the many North Carolina residents who got stuck on a snowy road yesterday. The pregnant woman ventured into the storm, thinking she had time to get through it before conditions got bad. Check out her account, from CNN's Michael Martinez. -
Some photos at the Washington National Cathedral in the nation's capital, taken by CNN iReporter Kirsten Odily Monkemuller.
Winterstorm in DC
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Commercial vehicles banned on I-84 in NYS until further notice #winterstormpaxby NYSDOT via twitter 2/13/2014 8:36:37 PM -
Troop T - I-90 East T/Guilderland, Troopers and emergency personnel on the scene of a jack knifed tractor trailer. http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BgX9n08CQAE_jKd.jpg
by NewYorkStatePolice via twitter 2/13/2014 8:36:44 PM -
Snow, snow and more snow! The National Weather Service reports daily maximum snowfall records Thursday at the following locations (in inches): JFK International – 5.5; LaGuardia – 7.7; Islip, New York – 8.1; Newark, New Jersey – 9.4 and Bridgeport, Connecticut – 9.5. -
Thomas Galante took this photo of a man shoveling the sidewalk during a break in the snow in Philadelphia. This iReporter used the Camerabag 2 application to add a border and make the photo black and white.
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Worst day yet for winter travelers
Thursday has been the worst day "by far" of 2014 for flight cancellations, with more than 6,300 U.S. flights, of about 29,000 scheduled flights, canceled by mid-afternoon, according to Daniel Baker, CEO of flight tracking service FlightAware. The second most-affected day of a notoriously brutal winter was January 6, when more than 4,100 flights were canceled, Baker said.
Read about that, and more, from CNN's Holly Yan here. -
“We’re storm warriors here in Philadelphia," Mayor Michael Nutter told CNN. "No one controls the weather so you just deal with it."
He said the city, so far, is not seeing much in the way of downed trees and power lines.
“We’ve been fortunate but we take nothing for granted. We know that there’s another round of snow coming this evening. It’s going to start a little earlier than originally predicted and last a little longer. We’re still under a snow emergency,” Nutter said.
“We’re taking this very, very seriously. We’re not out the woods yet.” -
A pregnant woman was killed after being struck by a privately owned tractor clearing snow in a parking lot, but her baby boy was delivered by cesarean section, authorities said.
Read her story from CNN's Haimy Assefa and Ray Sanchez here. -
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CNN's Wayne Drash is a Southerner by birth and an Atlantan by choice. It's hard for him to sit silently when his city takes a whooping. Here is his take on Atlanta's "historic" storm.
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This is how bad it could have been: Atlanta's crippling ice storm of 1973
Snow, sleet and ice pummeled the Southeast, and hundreds of thousands lost power. But it was nothing like the ice storm that walloped the city 41 years ago and plunged the Capital of the New South into seven days of survival.
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A little over 91,000 customers are without service, Eric Boomhower, with South Carolina Electric & Gas, told CNN. That's down from around 120,000 earlier. "Certainly this has been a major weather impact event for our system. It may be the biggest weather event that’s hit us, from a utility standpoint, since Hurricane Hugo back in 1989," he said.
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What happens to the homeless? District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray speaks to CNN's Wolf Blitzer about those who might not have anywhere to go when it gets cold.
“The people who have mental health or substance abuse problems who won’t come into the shelters, what we’ve done now is we’ve put out what we call warming buses – where the buses are located in places where people congregate on the streets. And we’ve actually gotten several hundred homeless people to come and be on the buses, who would not go into the shelters otherwise," Gray said. -
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The death toll climbs.
Three men in Maryland -- ages 45, 55 and 57 -- have died of suspected cardiac arrest suffered "while in the act of shoveling snow," said Howard County, Maryland, spokesman Mark Miller. Including those men, officials have tied at least 16 deaths to the winter storm now affecting the East Coast. -
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By pronouncement of the sheriff, there will be NO VALENTINE'S DAY this Friday. That is, if you live in Georgia, north of Interstate 16 and have to drive to get a gift. Read about it here.
