Northeast is reeling from the latest in a series of blizzards, with low temperatures exacerbated by strong winds.
A fourth major snowstorm in Boston, Massachusetts, made February the snowiest month in the city’s history.
Almost 2,000 flights have been cancelled so far, mostly from airports in Boston and New York.
Heavy snow and freezing rain is also forecast further south, in the inland states of Indiana and Kentucky.
The separate weather system developing in that area is expected to travel eastwards this week, bringing further snow and sub-zero temperatures to the north-east.
Nearly 2ft of snow was reported in parts of New England after the latest storm this weekend. Meanwhile, 13in of snow was recorded in Boston.
The bitingly cold weather in the north-east and Canada is expected to continue well into March.
This year, however, the jet stream has followed more of a north-south route, bringing Arctic air deeper into the US and Canada.
A new winter storm bought snow and dangerously high winds to New England for the fourth time in less than a month on Valentine’s Day.
The region has already seen more than 6 feet of snow in some areas.
A blizzard warning was in effect for coastal areas from Connecticut to Maine through February 16 in the morning, promising 8 to 14 inches in southern New England up to 2 feet in Maine. A bone-chilling blast of cold will follow, with lows of minus 10 degrees forecast in some areas Sunday night.
National Weather Service meteorologist William Babcock said road conditions will be dangerous as steady, widespread winds whip the relatively dry snow around.
“On Sunday, the best thing people can do is stay home, stay indoors,” he said.
Hesaid gusts could max out at 75 mph — hurricane territory — on Cape Cod. Officials warned of possible power outages, and north-facing or vulnerable coastal areas could suffer flooding and beach erosion, the National Weather Service said.
The bad weather spanned several states — winter storm warnings extended west into Michigan and Ohio, where whiteout conditions led to a pileup on the Ohio Turnpike that killed at least two people. Another crash involving several tractor-trailers was reported on Interstate 70 just west of Columbus, and a storm-related crash on the New York Thruway south of Buffalo killed one person.
In New England, transportation officials took many precautions. Boston’s Logan International Airport said more than 250 Sunday flights were already canceled, and none was scheduled Sunday morning. And the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority canceled all rail, bus and ferry service in the Boston area on February 15.
Gov. Charlie Baker urged drivers to stay off roads during the storm, but he stopped short of an outright travel ban.
Crews worked urgently to remove the massive amounts of snow that clogged streets and triggered numerous roof collapses.
Massachusetts called up hundreds of National Guard troops to assist with snow removal, and the Hanscom Air Force base outside Boston became a staging area for heavy equipment pouring in from eight other Northeast states to help in the effort.
In southern New Hampshire, where up to 18 inches of new snow could fall, employees at a tree service volunteered to clear the snow from the roof of Londonderry South Elementary School. With the weather promising to show little love on Valentine’s Day, Governor CharlieBaker on Friday proclaimed “Valentine’s Week” in Massachusetts and encouraged people to celebrate the holiday by buying gifts and dining out all next week.
Business groups said weather-related travel woes have cut into sales by up to 80% for some restaurants and retailers leading up to Valentine’s Day, a holiday that usually generates about $500 million in business.
New England residents are digging out after up to 36in of snow fell in a day-long blizzard.
The Northeast snow storm, which also destroyed part of a seawall and flooded parts of coastal Massachusetts, is being blamed for two deaths in Long Island.
Clean-up is being hindered by freezing temperatures in the coming days forecast to be as low as 10F.
However, New York City and areas south were spared from an earlier prediction of a “potentially historic blizzard”.
New York City officials imposed a driving ban and took the unprecedented step of shutting the subway on Monday evening but less than a foot of snow fell overnight.
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio denied he had overreacted to warnings, saying he could only go on information available and would rather err on the side of safety
The National Weather Service (NWS) has admitted its forecasts were wrong, saying the storm moved faster than they expected.
National Weather Service director Louis Uccellini said his agency should have done a better job of communicating the uncertainties in the forecast.
In Massachusetts, heavy snow – falling as fast as four inches an hour – and high winds combined to created blizzard and white-out conditions.
More than 24in of snow coated Boston’s Logan Airport, the sixth-highest in recorded history. Worcester got 33.5in, the highest amount recorded since 1905, and Auburn and Lunenburg each reported 36in.
More than two feet fell in parts of Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire and Rhode Island.
Portland, Maine and Providence, Rhode Island both set a daily record for snowfall.
A 110-ft replica of a Revolutionary War ship in Newport, Rhode Island was damaged after the storm flipped it. Wind gusts were as high as 78mph.
On January 28, Boston’s transport system began running again and the first flight since January 26 took off from Logan Airport.
Snowploughs struggled to clear the roads, and Boston police drove several dozen doctors and nurses to work at hospitals.
Further south, the eastern tip of Long Island saw as much as 30in of snow.
Police have connected two deaths there with the snow – a 17-year-old who crashed into a lamp post while in an inflatable tube and an 83-year-old with dementia found dead in his backyard.
The storm also caused coastal flooding in Massachusetts. High tides breached a sea wall and damaged 11 homes in Marshfield, 30 miles south of Boston.
Massachusetts’ only nuclear power station shut down after the blizzard interrupted its power flow.
Thousands of people are still without power, many of them in Massachusetts.
Governor Charlie Baker said the snow had been “fluffier and lighter”, meaning there were fewer power outages than anticipated.
The biggest snowstorm of this season is poised to hit NYC, Boston and Philadelphia over the weekend.
The storm could bring the first widespread heavy snowfall of the winter to the Interstate-95 Northeast corridor, the northern and western suburbs of the I-95 cities and parts of the Appalachians.
Even where moderate snowfall occurs or snow changes to rain, the storm can easily be the biggest snowstorm of the winter so far and bring substantial travel disruptions.
The storm responsible for spreading snow into New Mexico and Texas into Thursday will spread a swath of snow and rain to a large part of the East Friday night and Saturday.
How much snowfall versus rainfall will depend on the track of what will become a significant coastal storm.
Since the storm is still a couple of days away and the exact track is still somewhat uncertain, a shift in track farther to the east or west by as little as 50 miles could have a huge impact on snowfall accumulation.
People traveling to, from or through the I-81 and I-95 corridors on spanning Friday night into Saturday night should expect major delays due to rain in the South and snow or a wintry mix farther north.
Accumulating snow is most likely to fall from the mountains of western North Carolina, eastern Kentucky and western Virginia to southern and eastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, the lower Hudson Valley of New York state and southeastern and central New England. Enough snow is likely to fall to shovel and plow in this area.
Included in the potential swath of accumulating snow is the Interstate-95 corridor from Washington, D.C., and Baltimore to Philadelphia, New York City and Boston. Even though rain could mix in over all or part of this zone, roads will be slippery during much of the storm. Airline delays are likely with the potential for cancellations.
Motorists should expect difficult travel in the I-81 swath from Virginia to Pennsylvania due to slippery and snow-covered roads.
How quickly the storm strengthens will determine how nasty the weather gets in New England. A full-fledged nor’easter or blizzard could hit part of New England with blowing and drifting snow, as well as the potential for damaging wind gusts and coastal flooding.
The storm will behave differently than the storm from last Saturday in that in most cases this will be a snow, rain or snow/rain mix, rather than an extended period of freezing rain. Some sleet can be mixed in as the storm transitions to rain in some coastal areas of the mid-Atlantic and New England.
Over much of the southern Atlantic Seaboard and the Piedmont areas of the Carolinas, enough rain can fall to cause urban flooding problems. Where heavy rain follows heavy snow, along part of the mid-Atlantic and southern New England coasts, there can be street and poor drainage area flooding.
Another storm with snow may swing from the Midwest to the coastal Northeast during the first part of next week.
The US Olympic Committee has selected Boston as its candidate city to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Boston beat domestic competition from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington DC to be put forward.
“Our goal is to host Olympic and Paralympic Games that are innovative, walkable and hospitable to all,” said Boston mayor Marty Walsh.
The deadline for cities to apply to host the 2024 Games is September 15.
The International Olympic Committee is due to make a decision in 2017.
The last time the USA hosted a summer games was in Atlanta in 1996, although Salt Lake City, Utah, hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002.
“I very much want to bring the games to the United States to share the incredible spirit of the games with another generation of Americans, and advance the Olympic and Paralympic movements,” said American IOC executive board member Anita DeFrantz.
The US is the third country after Germany and Italy to officially launch a bidding process.
At an IOC meeting in Monaco in December, a 40-point action plan was voted on to revamp the sporting showpiece.
Potential hosts will find it easier and cheaper to bid under the “Olympic Agenda 2020” reforms and events can be held outside the host country or city.
The 28-sport cap for future summer Olympics has been removed – although there will be no changes to the Rio 2016 schedule.
Instead of a 28-sport limit, each summer Games will be restricted to 10,500 athletes and 310 events.
Joggers took to the streets wearing almost nothing as they raced through Boston to raise money for children’s charities at the 13th annual Speedo Santa Run.
Runner braved the brisk winter temperatures in little more than their underwear.
Started 12 years ago amongst five friends in a bar, the run has exploded into a holiday tradition with hundreds of participants raising more than $1 million for children’s charities.
One team of runners raised close to $20,000 alone.
Joggers took to the streets wearing almost nothing as they raced through Boston to raise money for children’s charities at the 13th annual Speedo Santa Run
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