Storm systems threaten New England, Appalachian areas
A wind-driven winter storm brought blizzard conditions to Cape Cod and threatened to drop more than a foot of snow on southeastern Massachusetts on Monday — some forecasts predicted up to 18 inches. Motorists in New England were warned to be vigilant after a charter bus heading to a casino skidded off a Connecticut highway, injuring at least 30 people.
While New England takes the brunt of an Atlantic storm, which has also produced 20-foot waves off the coast, a second system moving across the central U.S. threatened heavy snow along the Appalachians from Pennsylvania to North Carolina, the National Weather Service said.
The weather service has issued a winter weather advisory through Wednesday morning for the Pittsburgh region.
Waves of Arctic air are expected to bring a couple rounds of snowfall here, after rain showers were set to transition to snow showers late Monday.
The weather service forecasts about 2 to 4 inches through the rush-hour commute Wednesday morning. Higher elevations could see up to 7 inches of snow.
The advisory — in effect up to 7
a.m. Wednesday — covers Allegheny, Washington, Westmoreland, Fayette and Greene counties.
Pittsburghers will wake up to about 1 inch of snow this morning, with flurries and more snow showers all day Wednesday.
The rest of the week will see considerably cooler temperatures, dipping roughly 10 degrees each day to reach 18 degrees by Thursday.
In New Hampshire, the storm could last into early today, when the state’s first-inthe-nation presidential primary is held. Police in Hampstead on Monday turned away people from a full coffee shop where Republican candidate Chris Christie was making a campaign stop.
One woman lamented that she couldn’t stand out in the cold because she has asthma, but authorities were adamant that no one else would be allowed in because doing so would violate fire codes.
Driving on treacherous roads caused accidents across New England.
In Connecticut, a bus carrying about 70 passengers from New York City to the Mohegan Sun casino crashed on a snowy Interstate 95 and fell on its side in Madison. At least 30 people were injured, and the northbound side of I95 there shut down.
Mark D’Antonio, Yale-New Haven Hospital spokesman, hospital officials were originally told that some of the 30 patients they should expect were listed in critical condition.
Some areas of the Cape and Martha’s Vineyard had about 9 inches of snow Monday evening. The National Weather Service said the islands appeared to have met the conditions for a blizzard.
Boston could see 6 to 10 inches, and areas south of Boston were getting moderate coastal flooding.
Elsewhere, after hitting hurricane-force winds Sunday on its way to Florida, Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas ship is turning around.
The ship was expected to arrive Monday in Port Canaveral, but Royal Caribbean announced Monday afternoon that it will instead turn around and head back to New Jersey, where it left from on Saturday.
The ship, which left Saturday from Cape Liberty, N.J., ran into the wild winter storm off the coast of North Carolina.
The National Weather Service reported hurricaneforce winds of more than 100 mph and significant waves of at least 30 feet.
Weather can be an uncertain science, but this was the one thing forecasters seemed to know was going to happen early this week.