Winter storm dumps heaviest snowfall in decades on US states
A BRUTAL winter storm dumped snow, sleet and freezing rain up the south-east seaboard of the United States, hitting parts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina with their heaviest snowfall in nearly three decades.
Forecasters warned that the same system could soon strengthen into a “bomb cyclone” as it rolls up the East Coast, bringing hurricane-force winds, coastal flooding and up to a foot (30cm) of snow.
At least 17 deaths were blamed on dangerously cold temperatures that have gripped wide swathes of the US from Texas to New England for days.
A winter storm warning extended from the Gulf Coast in Florida’s “Big Bend” region all the way up the Atlantic coast. Forecasters said hurricane-force winds blowing offshore yesterday could generate 24ft seas. There were also warnings over coastal flooding, downed trees and power lines along the East Coast.
In Savannah, snow blanketed the city’s lush downtown squares and collected on branches of burly oaks for the first time in nearly eight years.
William Shaw, a Savannah native, used baby steps to shuffle along a frozen road from his home to the post office.
“It almost seems the town is deserted just like in the last hurricane,” said Mr Shaw, 65. “There’s no one on the street. It’s got a little eerie feeling.”
Across the Georgia-South Carolina line in Charleston, the National Weather Service reported five inches (12.7cm) as the snow was winding down at 5pm.
It was the most snowfall in Charleston since December 1989, and plenty for Chris Monoc’s sons, aged four and two, to go sledging outside their home near the city’s Ravenel Bridge.
“They probably will be teenagers the next time something like this happens, and that’s kind of sad,” Mr Monoc said. “But we’ll enjoy it while it is here.”
The weather service said the winter storm would probably intensify into a “bomb cyclone” that could dump more than eight inches (20cm) of snow on the Boston area and at least half a foot (15cm) of snow in the New York City region.
A storm is a bomb – or bombogensis – when it drops 24 millibars of pressure in 24 hours.