New York braces for blizzard; heat wave seen in the West

Grounded flights and soaring power prices roiled the U.S. Northeast as a late-winter storm prepared to spin up the Atlantic Coast, threatening NY with an overnight blizzard, postponing German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s trip to Washington and promising snow by the foot in Boston.

While the city and Lonf Island were spared the worst of Stella, upstate NY took a beating, as a slew of towns and cities reported around 20 inches of snow by early Tuesday afternoon. Thousands of schools were shut.

45-55 miles per hour along the entire east coast and in southeastern MA. “Third, check your roof, drains and downspouts to ensure they are free of debris to prevent major water buildup and damage from melting snow”. But with warmer air filtering into the area, weather models predict that snowfall could be somewhere around 10 to 14 inches. In Delaware, Wilmington could see 11 inches. And because sleet is so much denser than snow, the precipitation that accumulates on the ground is not almost as deep.

The forecast prompted early decisions to close schools tomorrow in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston and many places in between.

The cold that dropped into the region pushed April natural gas contracts up.

Men try to push a cab stuck in the snow on a street in NY.

It’s March Madness, New England-style!

WeatherOnline forecaster Simon Keeling said: “After the mild weather of the last few days conditions will be turning much more unsettled towards the end of the week”.

“Out of extreme caution we chose to stick with higher amounts”, said Greg Carbin, chief of forecast operations at the Weather Prediction Center in suburban Maryland.

“I encourage all New Yorkers in affected regions to plan ahead and avoid any unnecessary travel as the storm progresses”, Cuomo said in a statement, adding that commuters should expect road closures, delays and cancellations.

Airlines have already begun to cancel flights through Tuesday, while waiving fees for passengers who need to change flights.

Governors in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Virginia declared a state of emergency.

That led German Chancellor Angela Merkel to postpone her trip to Washington for her first face-to-face meeting with President Donald Trump.

“There’s already significant snow falling in NY and in CT and in western Mass. and we fully expect it will be moving east with greater intensity over the course of the morning and into the early afternoon”, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said Tuesday morning. “All day is a no-go as far as travel is concerned if you don’t have to be out there”. There could even be a gust to hurricane strength (74 mph). “We’re preparing for a significant storm on Tuesday, and New Yorkers should also prepare for snow and risky road conditions”, de Blasio said. Both the morning and afternoon commutes will be disrupted.