The region’s first major winter storm churned up the East Coast on Tuesday leaving a path of slush and sleet in the Washington area and threatening to bring a foot or more of gale-driven snow in NY and New England.
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In the Northeast, the storm is expected to be the biggest of the season with up to 18 inches expected in New York City, garnering a blizzard watch for the area and a winter storm warning for the rest of New England and Pennsylvania.
The classic nor’easter will impact tens of millions of people. Heavy snow the rest of the day Tuesday could pile 10 to 14 inches more of white stuff, with sustained winds of about 30 miles per hour and wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour.
In preperation for the storm, the City of Rome’s public works department was “going through the fleet today, making sure all maintenance is caught up” for snow-plow trucks, said Superintendent of Streets Tom Jones. “It is going to be a risky, unsafe situation”.
An inch of snow is expected Saturday, tapering off in mid-afternoon.
The storm also changed plans for some teams competing in the NCAA tournament: Villanova, the top overall seed in the men’s tournament, left Philadelphia early to get ahead of the storm. The airports with the most cancellations were Newark International Airport in New Jersey and Boston Logan International Airport.
Almost 6,000 flights scheduled for Tuesday were canceled, while an additional 690 were delayed, according to the Houston, TX-based aviation site FlightAware.
Delta Air Lines told travellers they could book alternative flights without fees. United Airlines UAL.N said it would have no operations at Newark or LaGuardia. In Athens, just 3 inches of snow were recorded, but icy conditions persisted across the community for a number of days.
In Virginia, from Loudoun County to the panhandle of West Virginia are also included in the heaviest areas.
New York City has seen significantly less snow this winter compared to previous year.
Washington is not officially under a winter storm watch but Hurley said the city could get 4 to 8 inches of snow.
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Forecasters are calling for six to 12 inches of snow in the immediate Baltimore area – with more inches expected in the northern suburbs – that will fall Monday night through mid-day Tuesday.
