Parts of northern New England were waiting their turn to be pummeled by a heavy winter storm on Tuesday, while residents of the New York City region were digging out from under piles of snow that shut down public transport, canceled flights and closed coronavirus vaccination sites.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said a foot or more could be on the ground in New England by the time the snow finally tapers off in the northernmost states by Wednesday evening.
Lara Pagano, a meteorologist with the NWS office in College Park, Maryland, noted that while several areas in the mid-Atlantic had seen measurable snowfall for a few consecutive days, it had not shattered records. For example, she said the most consecutive days with measured snowfall for Washington is four, while the mark is five for New York and six for Philadelphia.
“While this storm has been a prolonged event, it’s not a record-setter in that sense, but it does rank up there pretty high of course,” she said.
The sprawling storm walloped the eastern US on Monday. More than 16in of snow dropped on Manhattan’s Central Park, and as much as 30in was reported in northern New Jersey.
High tide caused flooding early on Tuesday in coastal areas of Massachusetts, where the storm had already disrupted the second phase of vaccine distribution as a Boston site that was supposed to open on Monday for residents ages 75 and older did not. Some other mass vaccination sites remained open.
In Connecticut, Governor Ned Lamont said the storm forced the postponement of about 10,000 shots and delayed the weekly resupply of vaccine, now expected on Tuesday. He urged providers that called off vaccination appointments to extend their hours if needed to reschedule the shots by the end of the week.
A state of emergency imposed by the New Jersey governor, Phil Murphy, remained in effect on Tuesday and the state’s six mega sites for Covid-19 vaccines were still closed as plow operators faced snow showers and blowing snow. New Jersey state police reported as of 7pm Monday, troopers had responded to 661 crashes and come to the aid of 1,050 motorists.
There was also concern about coastal flooding in New Jersey due to the storm. In a video posted on Facebook by Union Beach police, officers were shown rescuing a man who was showing signs of hypothermia in his car from floodwaters.
In Pennsylvania, authorities said a 67-year-old woman with Alzheimer’s disease who reportedly wandered away from her home was found dead of hypothermia on an Allentown street on Monday morning. About 60 miles north in Plains Township, a shooting after an argument over snow removal killed a married couple. The suspect was found dead at his nearby home of a wound believed to have been self-inflicted.
