Powerful blizzard shuts down US capital
An “extremely dangerous” blizzard expected to dump record amounts of
snow swept across much of the eastern United States Friday, closing down
the US capital and threatening to trap millions indoors for days.
The National Weather Service (NWS) put the Washington-Baltimore
metropolitan area under a rare 24-hour blizzard warning starting at
10:00 pm Friday (0300 GMT Saturday).The storm, dubbed “Snowpocalypse”
and “Snowmageddon” by many locals, stretched from Indiana to
Pennsylvania and into parts of New York and North Carolina, creating
treacherous travel conditions, shutting Washington area airports and
leading several states to declare emergencies.The storm “will
significantly impact most of the region through Saturday,” the NWS said.
Forecasters said the Washington region would be hardest-hit,
describing overnight Friday to Saturday travel conditions in the area as
“hazardous and life-threatening.”They issued a blunt warning: help area
emergency workers “by staying off the roads.” The NWS forecast up to 30
inches (76 centimeters) of snow in the capital region, which would
shatter Washington’s 88-year-old record snowfall of 28 inches, in the
“Great Knickerbocker Storm.” That blizzard, which slammed the region in
January 1922, got its name from the collapse of the Knickerbocker
Theatre in Washington, killing nearly 100 people.
The US capital rarely gets so much snow: according to NWS data, since
1870 the Washington area has had more than a foot (30.5 cm) of snow only
13 times — including just six weeks ago, when a monster December storm
dumped 16 inches (41 cm) on Washington. -AFP
|