Those killed included a 4-year-old boy in North Carolina; a Kentucky transportation worker who was plowing highways; and a woman whose vehicle plunged down a 300-foot embankment in Tennessee.
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A jogger runs on a snow-covered street in downtown Washington on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016.
Public schools were closed on Monday across much of the Washington and Baltimore region, with some shuttered through Tuesday.
(Jonathan Wiggs/The Boston Globe via AP).
In addition to dumping record-breaking amounts of snow across 16 East Coast and Mid-Atlantic states this weekend, winter storm “Jonas” is also responsible for the deaths of 36 people.
But as the storm-related death toll rose, authorities advised caution despite the picture postcard scenes outside. Philadelphia and NY were expected to get 12 to 18 inches of snow before the storm abated. High winds on Manhattan’s Upper West Side kept the snow from entirely swallowing the tiny Mini Cooper of Daniel Bardman, who nervously watched for falling icicles as he dug out.
Uccellini said all the elements have come together to create a blizzard with brutally high winds, unsafe inland flooding, white-out conditions and even the possibility of thunder snow, when lightning strikes through a snowstorm. The weekend timing could not have been better, enabling many to enjoy a gorgeous winter day.
In New York, a travel ban was lifted but city and state officials are urging residents to stay indoors for safety. The huge backup happened after trucks couldn’t climb through the mountains toward the Allegheny tunnels in what would become 35 inches of snow. In its aftermath, crews raced all day Sunday to clear streets and sidewalks devoid of their usual bustle.
“I’m just helping them out, they help other people, they help us, so we got to help them”.
However, Washington remained at a standstill following storms that killed at least 19 people across the country.
About 3,750 flights were canceled on Sunday, and 700 were canceled for Monday, according to FlightAware.com, an aviation data and tracking website. United Airlines said in a statement Saturday it “plans to start very limited operations on Sunday afternoon” at Newark Airport and other New York City area airports.
Major airlines also cancelled hundreds of flights for Monday. Some didn’t have a choice; plows clearing streets buried cars under a mound of ice and snow. New York City subways, buses and Metro-North Railroad service were operating on a normal schedule.
Overall snowfall of 26.8in (68cm) in Central Park made it New York’s second biggest winter storm since records began in 1869, and Saturday’s 26.6in (67.6cm) made for a single-day record in the city. That would make the storm one of the top five storms in the city’s history.
Much of the northeast is expected to see a mix of sun and clouds on Sunday with temperatures just above freezing.
The storm dropped snow from the Gulf Coast to New England, with areas of Washington surpassing 30 inches. An official total of 22.4in (56.9cm) landed at the National Zoo, for example.
The zoo remained closed but a video of its giant panda Tian Tian making snow angels got tens of millions of views.
Among the dead was U.S. Capitol Police Officer Vernon Alston, 44, who had a heart attack after shoveling snow at his home in Magnolia, Del. Two died of hypothermia in Virginia.
NY officials warned the cost of snow removal was rising, with Comptroller Scott Stringer said today the city spent an average of $2.5 million last year to remove each of the 47.5 inches of snow that fell last year, above the average of $1.9 million going back to 2013.
A historic theater in Virginia billed as “Home of Virginia’s Lil’ Ole Opry” was a total loss after its roof collapsed on Friday.
“Then no more than 15 minutes later, I heard commotion out my window and I looked and I saw the raging water”, he said”.
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Sisak reported from Philadelphia; Contributors include Associated Press writers Ben Nuckols in Burke, Virginia; Bruce Shipkowski in Toms River, New Jersey; William Mathis, Scott Mayerowitz and Jake Pearson in New York; Alex Brandon and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington; Jessica Gresko in Arlington, Virginia; and Juliet Linderman in Baltimore.
