A winter storm combining high winds and ice was sweeping through parts of the south-east of the US, knocking out power, felling trees and fences and creating treacherous driving conditions.
Tens of thousands of customers were without power in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida. More than an inch of snow fell per hour in some parts of the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee and Virginia, according to the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Centre.
The storm was making air travel extremely difficult in some parts of the south of the country.
Travel chaos
More than 3,000 flights within, into or out of the United States were canceled on Sunday, and over 8,000 flights were delayed, according to FlightAware data.
The nation’s hardest-hit airport – Charlotte Douglas International – remained open around dawn on Sunday, the airport said in a weather briefing.
But more than 1,000 Sunday flights in Charlotte were cancelled – more than 80% of the airport’s Sunday schedule, according to the flight tracking service flightaware.com.
Charlotte is a major hub in the South for American Airlines.
In Atlanta, where Delta Air Lines operates its main hub, more than 300 Sunday flights were cancelled.
Conditions were expected to continue to deteriorate later on Sunday, and possible ground stops were anticipated at airports in the Washington DC area, the Federal Aviation Administration said in its air traffic control plan for Sunday.
Widespread power outages
Parts of North Carolina were under a winter storm warning until Monday morning.
Frank Pereira, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said to expect a “significant ice storm across portions of the central Carolinas,” including the Charlotte metropolitan area.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation said on Sunday that Interstate 95 was closed in both directions between Lumberton and Fayetteville due to low-hanging power lines.
Freezing rain had been reported in the area, and transportation officials advised drivers to take a detour.
More than 250,000 customers were without power by late morning on Sunday, according to poweroutage.us.
Georgia was especially hard-hit, with nearly 110,000 outages.
South Carolina had nearly 90,000 customers without power. The remaining outages were in Florida, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Ice, snow and tornadoes
In Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia, crews pre-treated roads, but officials still urged people to stay off them.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol said in a tweet that some roads in East Tennessee were snow-covered and that police were working at the scenes of several accidents due to ice.
The effects of the storm were felt as far south as south-west Florida.
The Florida Highway Patrol reported that a large tornado had crossed Interstate 75 near Naples, causing a vehicle to overturn.
Minor injuries were reported.
Florida Power and Light reported that about 16,000 customers in south-west Florida were without power.
Northeast storm
Weather forecasters said the north-east of the country could expect similar conditions.
While New York City was expected to be spared from most, if not all, of the snowfall from the winter storm, coastal areas on Long Island and Connecticut were expecting high winds and gale conditions, and upstate New York was projected to be hit with up to a foot of snow to accompany high winds.
The National Weather Service forecast winds of up to 60mph across Long Island and widespread coastal flooding there and in Connecticut by Monday morning.
In upstate New York, temperatures in the single digits were projected to rise into the 20s and bring heavy snow beginning Sunday night and lasting until Monday night.
Six inches (15cm) to 12 inches (30cm) of snow was expected in parts of east-central Ohio and western Pennsylvania from Sunday afternoon, resulting in slick and hazardous road conditions.
Freezing temperatures lingered across New England on Sunday, with wind chills in northern Vermont reported at -33C (-27F).
In Boston, where a cold emergency was declared on Saturday, wind chills remained below zero at -17C even as the region started the thaw.
In Canada, the storm is forecast to dump between 20-40cm (8-16 inches) of snow through Monday morning over parts of southern and eastern Ontario, the Canadian province that shares part of its border with New York state, the government weather agency, Environment Canada, said.
This was a long weekend for most people in the United States as Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a federal holiday.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said on Sunday people should avoid non-essential travel in areas impacted by the storm.
“If you’re able tonight and tomorrow morning, stay home and off the roads,” Kemp said onTwitter. “It’s going to be treacherous in a lot of parts of our state.” [Reuters, The National News]
Now subscribe to this blog to get more amazing news curated just for you right in your inbox on a daily basis (here an example of our new newsletter).
You can also follow us on Facebook and/ or Twitter. And, by the way you can also make a donation through Paypal. Thank you!
You should really subscribe to QFiles. You will get very interesting information about strange events around the world.
well up here in Alberta our really cold weather came early in Dec – usually Feb I agree – and every winter there is always someone who is never prepared – I always avoid driving in the first day after a snow dump – we all have lots of advance warning these days – so no excuses..snuggle under blankets good idea
I can remember a huge snowstorm in 1998 up in MN, our area went without power for seven days. Nobody could get in to repair the power. I used candles, and read books. We had tons of blankets too. This is the time of year we usually see this type of weather. Doesn’t seem unusual to me.
Up in our mountains we haven’t had enough snow yet. February usually is our worst month anyways, but still would like to have much more. Last year we did really well. I like my pine trees flocked with snow. Makes me happy.
Well, we got some rain, but not snow. I am grateful. Rain is good for my 250+ trees I planted, and orchard. Rain has nitrogen. Lately I have been burning logs. Then I take the wood ashes, and put them in the tree basin. I also sweep up the dog hair, and put that debris in the tree hole. Egg shells and bones too. Even in Winter, when you do these things, the soil absorbs the nutrients. Around April we see the results. Most people in this zone loose 10% of their trees in Winter. Not me, I lose 1-4 trees(2%-3%), usually it’s the rabbits that gnaw the bark, and gird the tree. I have a young apple tree that got gnawed. I ate the rabbit. He was a deeelicious rabbit. That’s the consequences of gnawing my tree.?