Snow Emergency

From the BBC:
"Snow emergency declared in US"

An emergency has been declared in several US states as a storm bringing hurricane-force winds and 90cm (36ins) of snow barrels down on the north-east. Non-emergency vehicles have been banned on New York City's 6,000 miles of roads after 23:00 local time. "Recognise this as an emergency, this is not business as usual," said Mayor Bill de Blasio. Heavy snowfall is forecast from Philadelphia to Maine, falling up to four inches an hour in some areas. New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts have declared states of emergency and 50 million people are expected to wake up to a foot of snow on Tuesday.

 

In other developments:

• 5,000 flights in and out of airports along the East Coast cancelled
• New York Governor Andrew Cuomo urged commuters to work from home on Monday
• he also warned that public transport and major roads could close before evening rush hour
• New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said state offices would close at lunchtime
• wind gusts of 75 mph or more are forecast for coastal areas of Massachusetts

Glenn Field of the National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts, told the BBC on Monday afternoon that the storm will be worse than previously thought. Hurricane-force winds of up to 80 mph (129km/h) will batter Cape Cod, the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, he said.  Mr Field said the heaviest snowfall will come in the early hours of Tuesday, with 15 inches expected between 0100 and 0500 local time, and 30 inches in total in parts of Massachusetts. During a Monday afternoon press conference, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio urged residents to stay out of the way of the 2,300 snowploughs clearing city streets.  "You can't underestimate this storm," the city's mayor said. "What you are going to see in a few hours in something that is going to hit very hard and very fast." Similar bans for non-emergency vehicles will be in effect later this evening for the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts and would be likely in the rest of New York state.


^ While I am not one of those people you see on TV freaking out about every snow storm and rushing to the store to stock-up and to buy my first shovel (despite the fact that it's almost February and you should already have one.) I did go into town today to do my regular errands  - which did include getting some groceries. I believe you should always be prepared (that's probably the Boy Scout in me) and so I get ready for winter when it's September. I get lots of firewood, have the propane tank filled, check the whole-house generator, check the snowblower and start buying lots of frozen and non-perishable foods (when things are on sale) so that I can just stay home when there's a major snow storm. We are expected to get around 20 inches of snow from this storm and that won't be a big deal since we have received up to 28 inches of snow at a time. I have seen posts on Facebook (along with the picture above) about how people in Boston and New York City are going over-board on the hysteria. In a snow storm (unlike many other natural disasters like hurricanes) the only thing you can do is stay home. If you do that and have the essentials then there's no reason to worry. ^


http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-30978320