2013年3月11日 星期一

EXTREME WEATHER: Wet And Messy Weather To Hit Eastern United States - New England Braces For Third Snowstorm In Three Weekends!

February 23, 2013 - UNITED STATES - It will be a messy weekend in the Northeast and the Deep South as the massive weather system that walloped 20 states with a snowstorm rolls off toward the Atlantic Ocean.

A winter storm is expected to deposit up to 10 inches of snow in isolated pockets of western Massachusetts, and 6 inches to a foot in parts of southern Vermont and New Hampshire, and central Maine.


Jackie Arrandondo, 19, is covered with morning snow from head to toe as she waited for the city bus Friday, February 22, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Gusty winds and iced-over roadways made for treacherous Midwest travel Friday as a major winter storm headed east over the Great Lakes. Two deaths have been linked to the storm, including one in a fatal traffic accident in Minnesota.
This is not the same storm that blanketed the Great Plains, said CNN Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri, although it is part of the same overall system that spans the country from north to south.

It will be much less intense, he said, and it should not affect the places hardest hit by the blizzard that plastered the Northeast two weeks ago, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers.

Boston will likely see a slushy mix of rain and snow that could lead to downed branches and power lines, Javaheri said.

Track severe weather

Rain will continue to soak the eastern United States from Washington, D.C., on down, especially Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.

"Across the Southeast, some of the rainfall totals are going to be staggering," said CNN Meteorologist Karen McGinnis. Parts of the central Southeast should get 4 -- 6 inches of rainfall.

Tow truck driver Tyson House helps trucker Gary Wheeler of Kansas City on Friday, February 22 in Greensburg, Kansas, after his truck slid off the road during a snowstorm that struck the Midwest. The huge snowstorm was moving across the Plains on Thursday.

Some snow records
The outgoing system will have made its mark on virtually the entire country from the southwest corner of California to central Maine, leaving its deepest imprint on Kansas.

Wichita saw its second-highest storm snowfall total on record with 14.2 inches over two days, the National Weather Service said.

The town of Russell in the state's middle lay under a 22 inch layer of white by the time the storm roared by.
Missouri was not far behind, with accumulations of around a foot in some places.

The snow set a record at Kansas City International Airport, with 9 inches falling in a single day. The old record was 5.1 inches set in 2010.

Some businesses and universities shut down Thursday as state officials urged residents to stay off the roads.
The white blanket emptied the streets of Kansas City.

A car is stranded in the snow on Highway 135 outside of Wichita, Kansas, on Thursday, February 21.
Silver lining
The snowstorm turned out to be a welcome one to many Kansans and many others throughout the Great Plains, who have been suffering a drought for a third straight year.

Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and a host of other farm-heavy states have seen crop losses as a result.
The Kansas Department of Agriculture expects those conditions to continue into April, but near-record levels of snowfall will ease the problem and could accelerate the drought's end.

WATCH: New Winter Storm Heads East.



"It snows so infrequently here. Now we've been in a really bad drought for several years; really, really hot summer and just no moisture. So we're thrilled to see snow or ice -- whatever moisture we can get," Wichita resident Kristen Woodburn said.

Ranchers embraced the storm, even though bitter cold snow can be deadly during calving season. Frank Harper, a Kansas rancher from Sedgwick and the immediate past president of the Kansas Livestock

Association, said the storm caused more work for him because he had to bring his calves inside to warm them up.But he called the snowstorm a blessing for bringing good moisture to the winter wheat. - CNN.


Vehicles drive in single file down Highway 135 outside of Wichita on Thursday.
New England braced for its third snowstorm in three weekends on Saturday, putting crews to work sanding roads and trimming trees ahead of the snow, sleet and freezing rain moving in from the Midwest.

The storm blanketed states from Minnesota to Ohio earlier this week, dumping more than a foot (30.5 cm) of snow in Kansas on Thursday, forcing airports to cancel hundreds of flights and leaving motorists stranded on highways.

The storm was expected to pelt New England's coastal areas from northern Connecticut to southern Maine with a mix of snow and rain starting late on Friday, National Weather Service meteorologist John Foley said.

A winter storm watch forecasting heavy, wet snow was posted for Saturday afternoon through Sunday evening in southern New Hampshire, northern Rhode Island and much of Massachusetts, including the Boston metropolitan area.

"I'm not thrilled that we've got more snow coming this weekend. I've had enough of winter," said John Bonnanzio, 54, group editor at Mutual Fund Investors Association outside of Boston.

The Weather Channel forecast that southern parts of Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and northern and central Massachusetts could see snowfalls of 6 inches or more over the weekend. From 2 to 5 inches of snow may fall in Boston, and the storm will likely dump rains from New York City to Philadelphia, it said.

Up to a foot (30.5 cm) of snow was possible in parts of central Massachusetts, Foley said.
The heaviest fall was expected Saturday night through Sunday morning, with 1 to 2 inches per hour possible, the weather service said.

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino met with his "Snow Team" on Friday, as city crews prepared to trim trees to reduce the risk for downed power lines and pre-treat roads.

"Boston will be ready for its third consecutive weekend storm," Menino said in a statement. "Use common sense and stay off the roads while snowfall is heaviest tomorrow."

For some Boston-area residents the prospect of yet another weekend snowstorm was good news.

"I'm excited. ... I went out skiing in the streets during the last one, and I'll do the same thing again," said Jesse Beecher, 29, who works for a film production company.

The storm barreled eastward for the weekend after hitting the Midwest during the work week. In Kansas City, Missouri, Mayor Sly James said that about 60 buses were stuck on snowbound streets on Friday, and even tow trucks were immobilized.

"It's still an ongoing process to get people off the roads," he told CNN.

About 570 flights were canceled on Friday, with 127 of them at Chicago's O'Hare airport. Kansas City International Airport reopened after being closed on Thursday while crews cleared runways.

The National Weather Service said the storm may bring sleet and freezing rain to the Appalachians and mid-Atlantic states, with thunderstorms expected on the storm's southern fringe in the southeastern United States.

Tow truck drivers aid a semi-truck on February 22 in Greensburg, Kansas.
SNOWY KANSAS
Kansas bore the brunt of the bad weather on Thursday, with up to 15 inches (38 cm) of snow in some parts of the state, according to the National Weather Service.

A closed 200-mile (323-km) stretch of Interstate 70 in central Kansas was strewn with cars stuck in snow.

National Guard troops riding in Humvees were dispatched to look for stranded motorists along the interstate and other highways, said Sharon Watson, a spokeswoman for Kansas emergency management services.

The storm triggered severe thunderstorms from eastern Texas to Georgia.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Kansas Governor Sam Brownback declared states of emergency because of hazardous travel and possible power outages. Brownback ordered state offices closed.

In Nebraska, a 19-year-old woman was killed in a two-car accident on Wednesday on Interstate 80 near Giltner. The Nebraska State Patrol said weather was a factor.

An 18-year-old man died in Oklahoma when his vehicle slid into a tractor-trailer on a slushy state highway, the state's highway patrol said.

Drought-stricken farmers in the Great Plains, one of the world's largest wheat-growing areas, welcomed the moisture brought by the storm, although experts said more rain or snow would be needed to ensure healthy crops. - Reuters.

WATCH: Today's Severe Weather Threat.



WATCH: Heavy Rain Brings Flooding Threat.



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