Potent Storm Hits Wide Swath of U.S. and Moves East

By Wednesday afternoon, more than seven inches of snow had fallen in Indianapolis, the National Weather Service reported, and by the evening more than 18 inches covered parts of Illinois. 

Detroit, under a heavy snowstorm, declared snow emergencies in some parts of the city, according to local reports, asking cars not to park on the street to make room for snow plows. More than 1,500 flights were canceled on Wednesday, according to the Web site Flight Aware, which also listed delays of an hour to two hours at airports across the Eastern United States.

The brunt of the storm was expected to hit western New York and extend into central Maine through Thursday morning, forecasters said, an area that could get 12 to 18 inches of snow. In Buffalo, as much as two inches each hour could be falling by Thursday morning, combined with 30-mile-per-hour winds, according to the Weather Service.

In New York City, the slushy snow that fell initially gave way to heavy rain and sustained wind of up to 35 miles per hour, and gusts as high as 60 miles per hour were expected overnight, said Tim Morrin, Observation Program Leader at the National Weather Service. The heavy rain, up to 1.8 inches overnight, could lead to flooding in areas with poor drainage, Mr. Morrin said. There is a coastal flood warning in effect during high tides Wednesday and early Thursday “along the Battery, Bergen Point, the mouth of the Hudson and portions of the western Long Island Sound,” he added.

Flights into Newark and LaGuardia airports were delayed by more than two hours on Wednesday evening, and flights into John F. Kennedy International were held up for over an hour, according to the Federal Aviation Authority. The storm, Mr. Morrin said, is not due to taper off until Thursday afternoon.

In Westchester County, where some wires went down after 7 p.m. in Larchmont, 2,300 customers were without electricity on Wednesday evening, said Chris Olert, a spokesman for Con Edison.

On Tuesday, parts of the country unaccustomed to a white Christmas were hit hard by snow, including Little Rock, Ark., where nine inches fell, and parts of Oklahoma, where seven inches of snow contributed to a 21-vehicle pileup on an interstate outside Oklahoma City, the authorities said.

While that accident caused no serious injuries, a car crash in Major County, in northern Oklahoma, killed a 28-year-old woman as the vehicle she was riding in struck a tractor-trailer on a snowy highway, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said.

Also Tuesday, a man died outside Houston when he got out of his car to remove a tree that had fallen in high winds and blocked the road. As he tried to drag the tree away, a second tree fell and crushed him, according to the Harris County sheriff’s office.

More than 200,000 people remained without power on Wednesday, many in Arkansas, where winds toppled power lines and trees.

Thirty-four tornadoes were reported from Texas to Mississippi on Tuesday, prompting Gov. Phil Bryant of Mississippi to declare a state of emergency after several counties were battered by storms, including a twister that destroyed homes in Pearl River County, said Danny Manley, the county’s emergency management director.

A tornado also rolled through downtown Mobile, Ala., causing significant damage to Murphy High School and tearing off part of the roof of Trinity Episcopal Church, according to the Mobile County Emergency Management Agency. No serious injuries were reported.

In California, two people died Monday in avalanches in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, where there was heavy snowfall over the weekend, the authorities said.

Ravi Somaiya contributed reporting.

View the original article here