Record lows set to follow blizzard’s blast
Wind chills could hit 40 below after snow, hurricane-force gales
HARTFORD, Conn. — A massive winter storm roared into the East Coast on Thursday, threatening to dump as much as 18 inches of snow from the Carolinas to Maine and unleashing hurricane-force winds and flooding that closed schools and offices and halted transportation systems.
Forecasters expected the storm to be followed immediately by a blast of face-stinging cold air that could break records in more than two dozen cities and bring wind chills as low as minus 40 degrees this weekend.
Blizzard warnings and states of emergency were in wide effect, and wind gusts hit more than 70 mph in some places. Eastern Massachusetts and most of Rhode Island braced for as much as 3 inches of snow per hour.
Deaths, power losses
Four people were killed in North and South Carolina after their vehicles ran off snow-covered roads, authorities said. Another fatality was reported near Philadelphia when a car could not stop at the bottom of a steep, snow-covered hill and slammed into a commuter train. A passenger in the vehicle was killed. No one on the train was hurt.
In New Jersey, Orlando Igmat’s car got stuck in a snowbank along the Garden State Parkway in Tinton Falls as he drove to work at Verizon. He waited a half hour for a tow truck to pull him out.
“I didn’t expect it (the storm) was going to be a heavy one. That’s why I went to work today. I’m going to stay in a hotel tonight,” he said.
More than 100,000 homes and businesses lost power at some point, depriving many people of heat. Connecticut opened more than 100 warming centers in 34 towns. More than half of the outages — mostly in the South — were restored by Thursday afternoon.
The high winds caused coastal flooding from Massachusetts to Maine, overwhelming fishing piers, streets and restaurants. The rising waters also stranded people in homes and cars.
Wind gusts strong enough to topple trees and power lines were predicted in the Delmarva Peninsula, which includes parts of Delaware, Virginia and Maryland; coastal New Jersey; eastern Long Island, New York; and coastal eastern New England.
The flight-tracking site FlightAware reported nearly 5,000 canceled flights across the United States. Those included more than two-thirds of flights in and out of New York City and Boston airports.
Rail service was affected too. Amtrak planned to operate a modified schedule between New York and Boston. Northeast Regional Service between Washington, D.C., and Newport News/ Norfolk, Va., was canceled.
‘Yay, I get to go out’
Some people took the weather in stride.
Mark Schoenenberger, a 45-year-old NASA engineer who lives in Norfolk, Va., put on his cross country skis so he could make a half hour trip to the bagel shop for some breakfast for his family.
“It’s like ‘Yay, I get to go out,” he said.
Waiting just behind the storm was a wave of bracing cold.
National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Peterson said record low temperatures were predicted for 28 major cities across New England, eastern New York and the mid-Atlantic states by dawn Sunday.
Boston expected a low around minus 11 overnight Saturday into Sunday. Portland, Maine, and Burlington, Vt., could see minus 16 and 19, respectively, the weather service said.
It was so cold in South Florida that iguanas fell from their perches in trees in suburban Miami. The reptiles became immobile when temperatures dipped below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.