Highly unusual snowfall blankets even Southern states
Only Florida among the US’s 50 states did not have snow that cancelled flights and made travelers in the normally warm southern part of the country delay or change their planned trips this week.
It was an unprecedented widespread snowfall that even impacted Hawaii.
“This is extremely unusual, though it’s hard to put a date on when this last happened because records aren’t kept on this kind of event,” reported CNN.
On Thursday, much of New England continued to dig out from up to two feet of snow. Boston accumulated a one-day record of almost a foot of snow.
Winter weather was blamed for at least 18 deaths since last Sunday when the snow and ice began falling.
Forecasters predicted sunshine Thursday in Massachusetts and nuch of the rest of New England, though temperatures remained below freezing.
Airlines across the US cancelled flights, though most of them were in the larger eastern cities such as New York, Boston and Philadelphia. Estimates were that more than 3,000 flights were cancelled in those three cities.
In New York, where city leaders including Mayor Bloomberg faced heavy criticism for their slow work after a Dec. 26 blizzard, officials rolled out a massive response that quickly cleared the streets, according to the AP. They also received some help from nature — with only nine inches of snow falling in Central Park or well short of the 20 inches in last month’s storm.
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Even Hawaii had snow in Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.
That means that snow was present in almost 70 percent of the lower 48 states.
Traditionally snow-savvy areas coped but places like Atlanta that seldom see snow found many disruptions. More than 2,000 flights were cancelled out of Atlanta.
"We don’t have weather events like this," said Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed, whose city saw as much as 3 inches of snow. "I think the amount of snow we’re getting is probably a 10-year event for the city of Atlanta."
AirTran Airways spokesman Christopher White said operations would take several days to get back to normal at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
States of emergency were declared in Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee as ice and snowstorms swept the South. Snow blanketed roads and bridges, forcing many travelers to stay home.
Amtrak suspended rail service between New York and Boston, and also canceled service in other areas of New England due to severe weather, according to its web site.
The worst of the snow in southern areas hit Mississippi and northern Louisiana, according to meteorologists, with disruptions falling from Texas to the Carolinas.
There was some consolation to travelers in the harder-hit New England areas. They won’t be stuck for days as they were after a Christmas weekend storm.
It was easier to put stranded passengers on later flights, which aren’t as full as they were during the holidays, according to the airlines.
By David Wilkening
David
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