Northeast & East Coast Hammered by Snow Storm, Leaves 15 Dead & Millions Still without Electricity, Kansas to Be Hit by Snow Today (video)
Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on November 2, 2011
An estimated 1 - 2 million people are still without power after heavy snow storm hit the East Coast and NE US just before Halloween, at least 15 are reported dead
A powerful and rare snowstorm just before Halloween has resulted in at least 15 deaths in the eastern and northeastern United States. An estimated 1 to 2 million homes and businesses are still in the dark after the storm slammed the East Coast. Connecticut was one of the heaviest hit states with power outages.
Kansas will be hit by Mother Nature today, although it is not anticipated to be as severe as the storm that blasted earlier this week on the East Coast and northeast portions of the country.
It was also reported that police made a number of arrests at several Occupy Wall Street encampments around the country.
PBS: Early Snowstorm Blankets Northeast, More National News
From CNN, States scramble to restore power after snowstorm:
Utility companies in five states scrambled to restore power to more than 1 million people still in the dark early Wednesday after a snowstorm pounded the Northeast over the weekend.
A massive snowfall that started Saturday downed trees and power lines, knocking out electricity to customers in various states, including Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.
New Jersey resident Becky Fisher said she moved her family to a neighbor’s home after they lost power and temperatures dropped to near freezing.
Fisher, along with her husband and their 6-month-old daughter, have camped out at the neighbor’s house in Maplewood, New Jersey, since the weekend storm coated her home in snow and knocked down trees and power lines.
[...]
By early Wednesday, about 178,000 people in New Jersey and 573,000 others in Connecticut remained without power, according to the states’ utility companies.
In Massachusetts, about 228,000 were in the dark while thousands also lost power in New Hampshire, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, according to power companies in those states.
Elsewhere, about 63,000 customers were without power in Pennsylvania and 105,000 were affected in New York.
President Barack Obama has signed an emergency declaration for New Hampshire and Connecticut, clearing the way for federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts
Authorities reported at least 15 deaths blamed on the storm, including three in Massachusetts, four in New Jersey and another four in Connecticut.
This CNN news report aired on Sunday:
From Wichita Eagle, Winter storm sets its sights on Kansas:
The western half of Kansas is under weather warnings of one type or another today as a major winter storm barrels into the Sunflower State.
Snow is already falling in Goodland, where a blizzard warning has been posted until 7 p.m. Central Daylight Time. Forecasters say 2 to 4 inches of snow could fall in the four counties bordering Colorado in the northwest corner of the state, with north winds gusting to about 50 miles an hour dropping visibility to less than a half-mile at times.
A winter weather advisory has been issued until 7 p.m. for 50 counties in western and central Kansas, stretching from the Colorado border to as far east as Marion County. Wichita, Newton and Hutchinson are not included in the advisory, but McPherson, Great Bend, Dodge City and Medicine Lodge are.
Strong north-northwest winds blowing steadily at more than 30 miles an hour are expected to move through the area late this morning and early this afternoon, with gusts approaching 50 mph. Forecasters say 2 to 3 inches of heavy, wet snow can be expected northwest of a line from Liberal to Larned, with locally heavier amounts possible.
“Snow and blowing snow will create very hazardous driving conditions,” a National Weather Service statement cautions.
From KSN News, Parts of Kansas could see wintery conditions Wednesday:
A strong cold front sweeping across the state will interact with moisture from the Gulf of Mexico beginning Tuesday night with rain chances increasing from northwest to southeast. As the colder air pours in, rain will mix with and change to snow in the north and west by sunrise on Wednesday with a slushy accumulation on grassy areas possible. As the day progresses on Wednesday, temperatures will hold steady or fall pushing the rain/snow changeover line farther east, reaching a line from Northcentral Kansas to northern Oklahoma by the end of the day. By day’s end, an inch or two of accumulation is possible for western portions of the state with some slushy accumulation on grass elsewhere.
As the storm exits the state Wednesday night, the rain will finally change over to snow across the rest of the KSN viewing area, including Wichita, but no accumulation is expected.
The other story with the storm will be the wind. Wind gusts in excess of 50 mph are possible beginning Tuesday night through the day on Wednesday and some minor wind damage is possible along with reduced visibilities due to blowing snow and rain.
The first hard freeze of the year is possible in the Wichita area as the storm departs Wednesday night and temperatures drop to the upper 20s for several hours.
From USA Today, Feds: Response to snowstorm slower than to Irene:
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Utility crews have been slower to fix Northeast power outages caused by last weekend’s record-setting snowstorm than they were after Hurricane Irene and its remnants because they had less time to prepare, a U.S. Department of Energy official said Tuesday.
Bill Bryan, a deputy assistant secretary for the agency, said during a stop in hard-hit Connecticut that he was monitoring the mutual aid response that has sent thousands of extra workers into the region.
The freak October snowstorm knocked out power to 3 million homes and businesses from Maryland to Maine. About 1.6 million customers remained without power Tuesday.
From Seattle PI, Central Park in NYC sets October record for snow:
NEW YORK (AP) — Authorities say New York City’s Central Park is seeing its snowiest October on record.
National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro says 1.3 inches of snow had fallen at the park as of 2 p.m. Saturday, making this the snowiest October there since records began being kept in 1869. That’s also a record for the date of Oct. 29.
Vaccaro says it’s the first time observers at the park have measured an inch or more of snow.
Snow was continuing to fall in the city Saturday, meaning the record will grow.
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