Thousands of people without electricity in the brutal cold in the US

(Trends Wide) — The “nor’easter” that left record snowfall in parts of the East Coast brought dangerous wind chills and thousands of people without power.

“A blizzard on the East Coast dropped 12 to more than 24 inches of snow along the coast. Now, cold weather will remain in the Mid-Atlantic today and tonight,” tweeted this Sunday the Mid-Atlantic River Forecast Center of the National Weather Service (NWS for its acronym in English).

power outages

Fierce winds downed power lines in Massachusetts, leaving 88,000 outages in the state as of late Saturday, according to PowerOutage.us.

On Sunday afternoon, the figure dropped to about 44,000 outages.

Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito said Sunday that regional shelters and warming centers have been set up for people who lost power in the brutal cold.

He said the state transportation department has tried to clear roads to provide access for those in need.

The storm became a “bomb cyclone” on Saturday morning, meaning it rapidly strengthened and barometric pressure dropped more than 24 millibars in 24 hours, the Weather Prediction Center said.

It also broke snowfall records in parts of Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.

Final snowfall reports from the January 28-29, 2022 blizzard. Highest totals by state:
MA-Stoughton 30.9″
NY-Islip 24.7″
RI-Warren 24.6″
CT-Norwick 22″
ME-Veazie 22″
NJ-Bayville 21″
DE- Lewes 14.2″
MD-Ocean Pines 14″
NH-Rye 13.5″
VA-Wallops Island 9.5″
PA-Lower Makefield 9 ” pic.twitter.com/qIzPHUM4pD

– NWS Eastern Region (@NWSEastern) January 30, 2022

Much of the Northeast suffers from a sub-zero wind chill

About 1 million people across the Northeast were under winter weather alerts Sunday, up from about 16 million people Saturday night.

“That’s a huge drop as the storm moves away from the more populated areas of the East Coast,” said Trends Wide Meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

But there is a problem: “Behind the storm moving north, winds of 16 to 32 kilometers per hour, with gusts of up to 48 km / h, have caused areas of moving snow and wind chill values ​​below zero over much of the Northeast,” the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center said Sunday.

An East Coast blizzard dropped one to over 2 feet of snow along the coast. Now, cold weather will hold a grip on the Mid-Atlantic today and tonight. #NYWX #NJWX #PAWX #DEWX #MDWX #VAWX #WVWX pic.twitter.com/BLPu1SdAMt

– NWS MARFC (@NWSMARFC) January 30, 2022

Most of the Northeast is still locked in a deep freeze.

“Afternoon highs will continue to be below average across the Northeast on Sunday, with most locations struggling to get above minus 1 degree Celsius,” said Trends Wide meteorologist Haley Brink.

Although temperatures will rise slowly after the nor’ easter“We’ll have to be patient for any real warm-up, which doesn’t come until the middle of the week,” Van Dam said.

Record snow and strong winds

The bomb cyclone brought heavy snowfall that quickly accumulated as howling winds blew through the region.

The city of Stoughton, Massachusetts, recorded a staggering 78.4 centimeters of snow on Saturday night, the NWS said.

In parts of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, where Cape Cod is located, hurricane-force winds reached 130 km/h on Saturday, it added.

Here are some notable snowfall records:

Atlantic City, NJ: The city smashed its all-time snowfall record for January on Saturday, reaching a monthly total of 84.3 centimeters of snow. The previous monthly record of 51.5 centimeters was set in January 1987. The city’s 35 centimeters of snow on Saturday also beat its previous record for the calendar date, which was set in 2014 at 18.5 centimeters.

Boston: Logan International Airport recorded at least 2 feet of snow Saturday night, the NWS said, making Saturday the snowiest day in January Boston has ever recorded and tying the record for the most snowfall total in one day. The previous record was set on January 27.

Central Park, New York: the iconic park saw 18.5 centimeters on Saturday, surpassing the previous January 29 record of 12 centimeters set in 1904.

Philadelphia: The city was hit with 14.7 centimeters of snow on Saturday, surpassing the previous record of 12.7 centimeters set on January 29, 1904.

About 5,000 flights were canceled

The dangerous conditions have hampered travel plans, with some 5,000 flights to, from or within the US canceled over the weekend, according to FlightAware.com.

East Coast airports were the hardest hit.

Major airlines offered waivers and alternatives to passengers whose travel was affected by the storm.

Liam Reilly, Haley Brink, John Keefe, Jason Hanna, Christina Maxouris, Brynn Gingras, Brian Todd, Artemis Moshtaghian, Tyler Mauldin y David Williams, de Trends Wide, contribuyeron a este informe.