The north-eastern United States has been under siege from a severe blizzard since Sunday night, with relentless snowfall and exceptionally strong winds causing widespread disruption across the region.
According to NBC 5 Chicago, the storm entered through the north-eastern metropolitan corridor, prompting emergency declarations stretching from Delaware to Massachusetts as hundreds of thousands of residents were left without electricity after power lines were brought down.
By Monday morning, snowfall had climbed to around two feet in south-eastern Massachusetts, Long Island and parts of New Jersey and Rhode Island, based on reports submitted to the National Weather Service.
Major cities, including New York and Philadelphia, along with several states, moved swiftly to declare states of emergency.
As per Space.com, as the situation continues to develop, satellites are providing striking aerial images of the storm, which meteorologists have formally identified as a “bomb cyclone”.
The terminology is technical: a blizzard, according to the National Weather Service, is defined by sustained winds exceeding 35 miles per hour (56 km/h) and visibility reduced to less than a quarter of a mile for a minimum of three hours.
On the other hand, the term “bomb cyclone” stems from “bombogenesis”, a meteorological process in which a storm rapidly intensifies as its central pressure falls by at least 24 millibars within a 24-hour period. Such a sharp drop can trigger severe conditions, including heavy snowfall, coastal flooding and powerful winds: all features evident in the current system.
Authorities have cautioned that the storm could go down as one of the ten most severe New York City has experienced in the past 150 years, reported NBC News.
Speaking at a press briefing on Sunday, Mamdani said New York City was facing its most severe winter storm in at least ten years. He cautioned that predicted snowfall of up to two feet could place the storm among the city's ten most significant on record: a forecast borne out by Monday afternoon, when Central Park registered close to 20 inches of snow, according to Time magazine.
As per NBC News, winter weather alerts remain in place for more than 40 million people, with blizzard warnings spanning over 600 miles along the eastern seaboard. Across the north-east, power outages have left upwards of 6,00,000 utility customers without electricity.
Air travel has been severely disrupted across the country, with thousands of flights scrapped and airports serving the New York region bearing the brunt of the chaos.
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill said on Sunday that the late-February storm could prove to be the most severe the state has endured since the Blizzard of 1996, when blizzard warnings were issued across all 21 counties. By Monday afternoon, snowfall at Newark International Airport had reached 27.1 inches, narrowly missing the record 27.8 inches recorded during the 1996 storm, Time magazine reported.
Kathy Hochul said on Saturday that the National Weather Service had issued its first blizzard warning for New York City since 2017, and the first for Long Island since 2022. Speaking a day before snow began to fall, Hochul cautioned Long Island residents that the storm could be historic, warning of heightened vulnerability, potential flooding and what she described as a “very dangerous situation”.
Also Read: Snowstorm In US: Air India Cancels Flights, New York Mayor Mamdani Orders Citywide Travel Ban
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