(Trends Wide) — Parts of the northeastern United States are still recovering from record amounts of snow as the region braces for continued cold temperatures.
The nor’easter that hit over the weekend became a “bomb cyclone” on Saturday morning, meaning the storm rapidly strengthened and barometric pressure dropped more than 24 millibars in 24 hours, the Center for Weather Forecast.
The intensity of the storm caused parts of Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania to experience unprecedented levels of snow.
The electrical service continues to be restored in the affected areas. Fewer than 1,000 customers remained without power in Massachusetts as of early Monday, according to the state’s emergency management agency, an improvement from about 16,000 on Sunday afternoon.
Regional shelters and warming centers have been set up for those without power and looking to escape harsh conditions, Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito said Sunday. High temperatures in New England are expected to stay below freezing on Monday.
Records were broken in several cities
Several snowfall records were broken Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, as the storm slammed into the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
Atlantic City, New Jersey, recorded 14 inches of snow, breaking the old record for the same date of 7.2 inches set in 2014. The city’s monthly total is now 33.5 inches, far exceeding the monthly mark. previous 51.6-centimeter established in January 1987.
Breaking a record set more than a century ago, Philadelphia recorded 5.7 inches of snow, the most ever recorded on the January 29 date. The previous record was 12.7 centimeters set in 1904.
The same storm in 1904 set the snowfall record for New York’s Central Park on January 29, which stood until Saturday. The park recorded 18.5 centimeters of snow, eclipsing the previous record by more than 5.1 centimeters.
John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport also set new snowfall records Saturday as the storm hit air travel hard. More than 1,500 flights in the US were canceled on Sunday due to the nor’easter, according to flight tracker Flightaware.com. More than 3,500 flights were stopped on Saturday.
New storm this week for the eastern US.
As the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic recover, more rainfall is on the way for swaths of the eastern US as a new storm is expected to stretch from the Great Lakes region to Texas on Wednesday and Thursday.
Territory in the storm’s northern reaches, which includes parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, may experience widespread heavy snow with accumulations of more than 12 inches, according to forecasts.
An ice band is also possible from the Ohio River Valley to the southern plains, with widespread ice accumulations between 1.2 and 1.7 centimeters of ice and isolated areas with more than 2.5 centimeters of ice, which would cause devastating power outages.
Strong thunderstorms and heavy rains may hit the southern US. Widespread rainfall with up to 4 inches of rain is possible across much of the South, with isolated amounts of up to 6 inches possible in parts of Texas.
Melissa Alonso, Liam Reilly, Trends Wide’s Aya Elamroussi, Jason Hanna, and Holly Yan contributed to this report.
