USA TODAY International Edition
Cleanup begins in shellshocked West, East
Rain and snow ease, leaving a mess behind
The snow, rain and gale- force winds from two storms that slammed the Northeast and California eased but still threatened both coasts with flooding, power outages and travel snarls.
Both regions were bracing for more snow, rain and other wintry weather, although most storm warnings were expected to be lifted. The dig- out had begun Wednesday in places such as Peterborough, New Hampshire, and Ashby, Massachusetts, where almost 3 feet of heavy, wet snow fell. At least 2 feet fell in parts of northern New York and the Catskill Mountains, the National Weather Service said.
Meanwhile, parts of northern and central California battered by the latest “atmospheric river” could see additional snow accumulations, the weather service said. California has been the target of 10 atmospheric rivers in recent months – plumes of moisture from the Pacific – and powerful storms that produced blizzard conditions.
A winter storm warning was lifted in Pennsylvania, New York and parts of New England, where additional snow accumulations of up to 10 inches were expected. Winds were expected to gust up to 45 mph. In the Southeast, freezing temperatures blanketed a stretch from Arkansas to the Carolinas, and another round of freezing weather was forecast for early Thursday in some states.
In hardened New England, residents were astonished at the storm: “It just snowed and snowed and snowed,” said Geoff Settles, who lives in Peterborough, New Hampshire. “My wife and I were helping some of the neighbors dig out. ... We had to shovel five and six different times just to keep it from being basically up to our chest.”