As authorities in Washington, D.C., and the states of Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania declared the state of emergency on Thursday, blizzard watches were also issued by the National Weather Service along the storm's path, stretching from Arkansas through Tennessee and Kentucky to the mid-Atlantic states.
According to the weather service, extreme conditions, including high winds and a storm surge, are expected to begin Friday afternoon through Saturday night.
"It (snowfall) does have the potential to be an extremely dangerous storm that can affect more than 50 million people," weather service director Louis Uccellini told reporters on Thursday.
While the storm was expected to easily paralyze the eastern third of the country, the US capital city of Washington, D.C. was very likely to bear the brunt. According to weather predictions, more than two feet of snow was expected for Washington.
To prepare for the potentially crippling winter storm, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority on Thursday announced that it would shut down the city's Metro system from Friday night through Sunday.
Local grocery store shelves were emptied as people in the storm's path scrambled to get essentials and prepared to hunker down for a wintry weekend.
Meanwhile, major airlines began to cancel flights for Friday and Saturday. According to FlightAware, a flight tracking site, at least 2,000 flights on Friday and another 3,000 on Saturday were expected to be canceled.
Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
22/1/16
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A huge blizzard bearing down on the US east coast is expected to dump near-record levels of snow on Washington and the Mid-Atlantic region....
ReplyDeleteMore than 50 million people have been warned of a "potentially paralysing storm" late on Friday that will bring 24ins (60cm) of snow within hours.
There are warnings the blizzard could cause power outages and will bring road and air travel to a halt.
A rush for supplies led to long queues and empty shelves at supermarkets.
The weather system has already proved to be deadly, with two drivers killed in North Carolina, one in Tennessee and a pedestrian dead in Maryland.....BBC