'Bomb cyclone' winter storm hits US East Coast
January 4, 2018
The US East Coast hunkered down on Thursday as a massive winter storm walloped the region with sub-freezing temperatures, heavy snowfall and high winds.
Blizzard warnings were in place from the southern state of North Carolina up to the northern state of Maine. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) posted an image of the spinning storm on Twitter.
The National Weather Service forecast winds as high as 70 miles per hour (113 kilometers per hour) that could knock down powerlines, leaving people without electricity or heat.
"We can handle snow," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference. "It's snow plus the wind which is going to cause the trouble today. The wind is going to be high all through the day."
Up to a foot (30.5 centimeters) of snow is expected in New York City while the city of Boston could possibly see 14 inches (35.6 centimeters) of snow.
Gusting winds were expected to continue through Friday on Long Island and in the state of Connecticut, with wind chills that could be as low as -20 degrees Fahrenheit (-29 Celsius).
Read more: What is a 'bomb cyclone?'
Around 65,000 homes were without power on Thursday morning in the Southeast and Northeast with the number expected to rise.
Over the past few days, at least 17 deaths have been linked to the wintry weather from North Carolina to Texas.
Travel delays and snow in the South
The weather has caused large travel delays on highways and in airports. Over 3,300 flights in the US were canceled ahead of the storm's arrival. New York's John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport temporarily suspended all flights due to "whiteout conditions," the airport said on Twitter.
The coastal Southeast was hit by the snowstorm on Wednesday, with heavy snowfall reported in the typically sunny states of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
rs/rc (AP, AFP, Reuters)