A potentially dangerous deep freeze hangs in anticipation for the end of the week after the massive “bomb cyclone” storm unleashed snow, hurricane-force winds and frigid temperatures up and down the East Coast, along with life-threatening flooding in some areas.
“Dangerously cold wind chills” are predicted through Sunday morning after what’s already been a whopper of a storm, the National Weather Service for the Eastern Region said Thursday. The expected cold air, which NWS said is “the coldest air of the season thus far,” could break records in more than two dozen cities and drop wind chills to as low as minus 40 degrees this weekend.
As the snow winds down the coldest air of the season thus far will be moving into the Eastern US. With gusty winds expected to continue into Saturday, dangerously cold wind chills are expected tonight through Sunday morning.
What’s more, the temperature drop could turn the frozen snow on roads into cement-like ice, officials have warned.
A person dragging a suitcase in the storm through Times Square in New York City. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
A person tries to cross an icy Pleasure House Rd. in Virginia Beach, Va., during the storm Thursday. Virginia has been socked by a powerful winter blast of snow and cold that’s seldom seen along its coast. (Steve Earley/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)
Blizzard warnings and states of emergency were in wide effect throughout the day, including parts of Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, coastal New Jersey, Long Island, N.Y., and coastal New England. Wind gusts peaked at more than 70 mph in some places.
The strong winds contributed to severe flooding along the coast from Massachusetts to Maine, overwhelming piers and streets. The storm also knocked out power to more than 100,000 homes along the East Coast.
Boston saw more than a foot of snow, NWS said. Hartford, Conn., got about nine inches, while Providence, R.I. was slammed with nearly 14 inches, weather trackers reported.
Joe Weatherly was in Boston’s Seaport district searching for a restaurant during the storm. Part of the district was flooded.
A woman fights to drag her shopping cart to her vehicle after exiting the Shaws Supermarket in Dartmouth, Mass., as a snowstorm swept across the area on Thursday. (Peter Pereira/Standard Times via AP)
“For someone in California, this is really, really scary. Mind blowing,” Weatherly, from Los Angeles, said. “We don’t live in a state where things shut down with the weather. I’ve just never seen this much snow in my life.”
Flights scheduled to resume at JFK Airport at 7 a.m. Friday, after today’s suspension of operations due to exceedingly strong winds and blowing snow. Fliers are urged to contact their airlines for information on resumption of specific flights before going to the airport.
Travel of all kinds also took a hit from the storm, with airports facing thousands of cancellations and closings. According to FlightAware, more than 5,000 flights were canceled Thursday and more than 1,000 were already canceled for Friday. Flight suspensions at both John F. Kennedy International Airport and LaGuardia Airport in New York have since been lifted.
Vehicles commute southbound on the Garden State Parkway in whiteout conditions during the snowstorm on Thursday. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
State and local officials urged people to stay home so crews could clear away the snow.
Nearly 500 National Guard members along the East Coast are on state-activation orders to assist local emergency crews, according to Army Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.
The New York National Guard reportedly has activated 200 members while Rhode Island and Virginia have activated 100 or more members, Davis said, and Massachusetts has activated about 30 members.
“Currently, the main focus is assisting with transportation support and vehicles,” Davis said. “No federal assets have been requested at this point.”
Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
