A winter storm that brought a rare white Christmas to parts of the US South was barreling up the East Coast early yesterday, with forecasters predicting 15cm to 25cm of snow for Washington and blizzard conditions for New York City and New England.
Airlines canceled hundreds of flights yesterday in the northeast corridor, with more likely to come as the storm intensifies.
Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina declared states of emergency early yesterday or on Saturday night. As North Carolina road crews tried to clear snowy and icy highways, Mid-Atlantic officials spent Christmas Day preparing for up to 30cm of snow, plunging temperatures and high winds.
Continental Airlines canceled 250 departures yesterday from Newark Liberty International Airport outside New York City. United Airlines announced late on Saturday that it had canceled dozens of departures yesterday from Newark, Philadelphia, New York’s LaGuardia and JFK, Boston and other airports. AirTran also canceled flights, as did Southwest Airlines, mostly in or out of Washington Dulles, Baltimore and Newark.
Southwest spokesman Brad Hawkins said most of the cancellations were for the afternoon and that flights in New York and Boston would also likely be affected. More decisions were expected to be made yesterday morning.
Most carriers were waiving fees for one-time changes in affected areas and urging passengers to make changes through their Web sites.
The monster storm is the result of a low pressure system that was to intensify off the North Carolina coast yesterday morning and strengthen into a major storm as it moves northeast, according to the National Weather Service.
A blizzard warning was issued for New York City for yesterday and today, with a forecast of 28cm to 40cm of snow and strong winds that will reduce visibility to near zero at times. As much as 45cm could fall on the New Jersey shore with wind gusts over 64kph. A blizzard warning was also in effect for Rhode Island and most of eastern Massachusetts including Boston.
Early yesterday, winter storm warnings covered northern Georgia, the Carolinas, Washington, Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and the eastern sections of Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York. Winter weather advisories were in effect for eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, West Virginia and northwest Virginia.
The system gave the Carolinas its first white Christmas in decades. Columbia, South Carolina, had its first significant Christmas snow since weather records were first kept in 1887.
In Washington, transportation department spokeswoman Karyn LeBlanc said a few crews would be pre-treating roads on Saturday night if necessary. About 200 pieces of equipment were to be deployed yesterday in anticipation of snow.
To the north, Delaware and Philadelphia braced for up to 30cm of snow predicted to fall from -yesterday to today and authorities urged people to avoid traveling if possible.
Hundreds of flights, many through Atlanta, had already been canceled on Saturday. Only a few hundred people milled about the cavernous terminals at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, many of them recent arrivals from international flights.
Passengers were notified on Friday when flights were pre-emptively canceled, so most didn’t bother to show up.
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