This Christmas Eve a travel nightmare
Storm another reason to stay home this year
A nasty winter storm slammed the eastern United States on Christmas Eve, pushing drivers off the roads and threatening to spoil the plans of holiday travelers and last-minute shoppers in a season already dampened by the coronavirus.
The snow and rain extended from Atlanta to Buffalo on Thursday. Forecasters issued warnings about an array of possible hazards — heavy snow, flooding, even tornadoes — from Tennessee to Maine.
The storm has already shown its ferocity, blanketing the Midwest on Wednesday and bringing more than 8 inches of snow to Minneapolis. Blizzard conditions delayed hundreds of flights and turned roads into dangerous white sheets.
In Nebraska, the State Police responded to more than 250 crashes or calls for help, including one with tragic results: A couple and a 4-year-old child were killed when the family’s car skidded over a median along Interstate 80 and into an oncoming semitruck. Two young children in the car were injured but survived.
Other parts of the country were pummeled Thursday by a treacherous mix of rain and snow. Forecasters said parts of West Virginia could get more than 1 inch of rain during the day and then up to half a foot of snow in the evening.
“Combine that, and it’s kind of a travel nightmare,” said James Zvolensky, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Charleston, West Virginia. “Things can get slippery pretty quick.”
Gusts of up to 65 mph were expected to whip through New York City from late Thursday into Christmas morning, along with heavy rain, potentially knocking over trees and power lines. “Widespread power outages are expected,” the National Weather Service warned.
Outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania, the river could rise as high as it did in 1996, when waterways filled with melted snow forced 100,000 people to evacuate.
During a pandemic holiday season in which health experts have pleaded with the public not to travel, the brutal weather could be one more reason to stay home for Christmas. Even before noon Thursday, scores of flights in the United States had been canceled.
In the South, temperatures dropped unusually low Thursday, and severe thunderstorms led forecasters to issue a tornado warning for parts of central and southeastern North Carolina. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, was under a tornado watch until 10 p.m.
Tornadoes were also possible in Virginia and in Florida, where temperatures were expected to plummet by more than 30 degrees over the course of the day as wind and rain moved into the state.