The forecast for a historic blizzard has been there for days, looming over the nation’s capital like the UFO from “Independence Day”.
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Though schools are expected to be open Sunday, the city has suspended Alternate Side Parking regulations on Saturday to facilitate snow removal.
Residents and elected officials throughout the Eastern United States are heeding the warning. And area residents are flocking to grocery stores, preparing to be holed up for the weekend. College basketball games and concerts in the region were postponed.
Asked on Thursday how she thought Washington would cope with the blizzard, Patricia DeWolf, a retiree, said, “If last night was an indication, not very well”. “I say they should shut things down”. She had to get to work as a nurse at a family practice clinic.
Across the Southeast, government offices, schools and universities were shuttered on Friday.
One major event in Washington was still on: the March for Life, an annual anti-abortion rally that’s usually one of the largest events on the National Mall.
But meteorologist Matthew Belk said it depends on the storm’s track.
“It does have the potential to be an extremely risky storm that can affect more than 50 million people”, he said.
“We still have forecast challenges facing us”, Uccellini said.
Snowfall as heavy as 2.5 to 7.6 centimetres an hour could continue for 24 hours or more, Kocin said.
Accumulations…snow accumulation of more than 2 feet. The report also suggests that the severe weather will include tornadoes, storms and can hit the Gulf States and some of the most populated cities can be exposed to the blizzard-like conditions.
At a supermarket in Baltimore, Sharon Brewington stocked her cart with ready-to-eat snacks, bread, milk and cold cuts. In 2010, she and her daughter had been caught in a storm with nothing but noodles and water in the house. The White House announced that due to inclement weather, the National Medals of Science and National Medals of Technology and Innovation ceremony has been postponed.It is during this ceremony that Indian-American scientist Rakesh Jain was to be honoured by the US President Barack Obama with the prestigious National Medal of Science. Already, several people have died in accidents on icy roads.
A state of emergency was declared in Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia and parts of other states.
As authorities in Washington, D.C., and the states of Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania declared the state of emergency on Thursday, blizzard watches were also issued by the National Weather Service along the storm’s path, stretching from Arkansas through Tennessee and Kentucky to the mid-Atlantic states.
Vincent Ayd, left, owner of Ayd Hardware in Towson, Md., and truck driver Mike Jock, of Newark, Del., unload snow shovels and ice-melt in Towson, Jan. 21, 2016. The storm coming has been called Storm Jonas.
Train services could be disrupted as well, by frozen switches, the loss of third-rail electric power or trees falling on overhead wires.
“We need the city’s full cooperation”, Bowser said.
Most airlines have put a travel waiver in place for the Northeast through the weekend, allowing passengers to change to alternate flights without having to pay a change fee.
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Ahead of the expected storm, airlines have begun to cancel flights from Washington area’s three airports.
