'Thundersnow': second storm in a week rattles New York City and US east coast

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian and agencies

'Thundersnow': second storm in a week rattles New York City and US east coast

• Flights canceled at three major airports serving New York City
• Winds up to 60mph are expected to knock down more power lines

Agencies
Wed 7 Mar 2018 23.37 GMT
First published on Wed 7 Mar 2018 23.14 GMT

The novel phenomenon of “thundersnow” rattled New Yorkers and others on the US east coast on Wednesday as they hunkered down working from home or braced for the evening commute through a near white-out as the second “nor’easter” storm in a week blew heavy, wet snow into the region.

Snowfall intensified during the afternoon and was forecast to persist into Thursday as thousands remained without power from the tempestuous wind and rain that hit during the previous storm late last week, bringing flooding to coastal Massachusetts.

Up to a foot of snow is expected to fall on New York City and surrounding New Jersey and Connecticut suburbs, with up to two feet further inland, and wind gusts could create “near-whiteout conditions” for travelers, the National Weather Service said.

The heaviest snow was expected in Maine, where up to 18 inches was possible.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/mar/07/thundersnow-second-noreaster-hammers-region

[Zoonart]

1. 60 miles North of NYC

20" of snow. Power out from last Fri. thru Tues. late.
Back out again 3am this morning.

[BigmanPigman]

2. They are showing videos of it right now on the weather channel.

I think a third storm is coming too.

[rsdsharp]

3. I wouldn't say it's 'novel"

It isn't common, but I've been through several thundersnows. The rule of thumb is that a thundersnow means a minimum of a foot of snow.

[Eugene]

5. British paper?

I saw my first thundersnow in the Blizzard of February 1969.

[rsdsharp]

6. Perhaps that explains it.

I think my first exposure was in February 1977. It was 60 degrees when I went to work at the radio station at 5 PM. When I got off the air at midnight it was a howling thundersnow. I put my car into the ditch a half mile from the station and walked back, getting mild frost bite on my ears. No one could make it in the next morning (until about 9 AM) so I signed the station back on at 6 AM. Wearing headphones with frost bitten ears is not an experience I want to repeat.

[NutmegYankee]

4. There were several thundersnows yesterday.

I’ve encountered them in previous storms. As for the storm, I’m in the hills of SE Connecticut, towards the center and got 9 inches of the heaviest stickiest snow I think I’ve ever had. Lots of power line and tree damage. The entire top of my neighbors eastern white pine was broken off and I lost a branch from a white oak.

Power is out for over 100,000 in CT and we were told to expect a multi-day outage.