At least 11 people died, more than a thousand were injured and tens of thousands lost power when the worst snowstorm in decades hit Tokyo and areas around the Japanese capital.
Flights were still backed up at Tokyo’s Haneda international airport on Monday and the lobby was packed with anxious travelers, with some flights overbooked.
As much as 10.6 inches of snow fell on Tokyo by late Saturday, the most in 45 years, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said. Back streets in outlying neighborhoods remained choked with snow and frozen slush on Monday morning, forcing commuters in heavy boots to pick their way carefully to work.
Financial markets opened normally on Monday despite the heavy snowfall.
At least 11 people died, more than a thousand were injured and tens of thousands lost power when the worst snowstorm in decades hit Tokyo
Traffic accidents and falls claimed 11 lives across the nation, including one 78-year-old man in Ichikawa, just east of Tokyo. More than 1,000 were injured, among them a 69-year-old man in critical condition after slipping and striking his head at his front doorstep while shoveling snow.
Some 5,000 people were stuck at Narita international airport at the weekend when the snow cut transport links to downtown Tokyo.
More than 20,000 households were without electricity early on Sunday after the snow and high winds took down power lines.
Several universities delayed the start of their entrance exams. The snowy streets also may have discouraged voters from going to the polls on Sunday to choose a new Tokyo governor, with turnout rates hovering around 46%, the third lowest in history.
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Japanese authorities warned Tokyo residents to stay indoors as a severe snow storm hit the capital.
Correspondents say it is the first such warning for the city in 13 years.
Hundreds of flights have been cancelled, roads closed and some train services suspended.
Japanese authorities warned Tokyo residents to stay indoors as a severe snow storm hit the capital
Local media has reported that at least 43 people have been injured because of snow-related accidents, with as much as 1.6 in of snow recorded on Saturday morning in Tokyo.
Weather forecasters have warned that with a rapidly developing low pressure front heading towards eastern Japan, more snow can be expected.
Last year parts of northern Japan had as much as 18ft of snow – a record-breaking amount that caused buildings to collapse under its immense weight.
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According to forecasters, Deep South will be hit by what could be its worst snow and ice in a generation.
Schools were closed, hundreds of flights were scrapped and cities blew the dust off the few snowplows they have Tuesday.
From Texas to the Carolinas, almost 40 million people are in the storm’s path.
In New Bern, North Carolina, where the last 6-inch snowfall happened in 1989, forecasters said as much as 7 inches could come down. In Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia, ice was the major threat – as much as a half-inch.
Columbia, South Carolina, a city of 130,000 people with only eight snowplows, was expecting up to 4 inches of snow. The city put emergency workers on 12-hour shifts and mixed up sand, salt and brine to put on the city’s major roadways as the weather got worse.
Schools were closed from Texas through the Florida Panhandle and up to North Carolina. The Johnson Space Center in Houston shut down for the day. Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant declared a state of emergency for almost half the state’s counties.
Deep South will be hit by what could be its worst snow and ice in a generation
Drivers were warned to use extreme caution or stay home entirely. Just north of Austin, Texas, where ice was accumulating on bridges and overpasses, emergency crews responded to a reported 20-car wreck.
Airlines canceled more than 2,600 flights, including more than 800 in the hub of Atlanta and more than 600 at the major airport in Houston.
Snow was already falling Tuesday morning from just north of Austin, Texas, up to the southern tip of Maryland, and a band of ice reached from San Antonio to the suburbs south of Atlanta.
By Wednesday, forecasters said, the storm will bend up the East Coast, traveling as far north as Providence, Rhode Island, before moving offshore by lunch.
Farther north, millions of people suffered Tuesday under another day of deep freeze. Subzero temperatures stretched from Montana to Pennsylvania. It was 11 below zero as the sun came up in Chicago, 8 below in Pittsburgh and 6 below in Cincinnati.
The unbearable cold forced schools to close in Minnesota, Chicago and western Pennsylvania. The University of Michigan shut down because of weather for the first time since 1978. Lake Geneva, Wis., recorded its 17th day of subzero temperatures this winter, double the average.
The latest blast of frigid weather arrived just as a shortage of propane, the fuel used by 14 million Americans to heat their homes, reached critical proportion.
With prices more than doubling from $2 a gallon to more than $4 last week, the governors of Minnesota and Illinois declared states of emergency Monday, urging people to cut back and regulators to lift restrictions on shipping to their states.
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Thanksgiving travelers in the East and South on Tuesday and Wednesday will face trouble as a storm brings most areas rain but could also bring heavy snow to a narrow swath.
However, much of the rest of the nation will be dry.
The same storm affecting the Southwest with snow, ice, rain and thunderstorms this weekend will reach the Southeast with rain Tuesday. From there the storm will turn up the East Coast, tracking into colder air, perhaps causing even greater travel disruptions.
AccuWeather.com COO Evan Myers said: “If the storm hugs the coast and develops to its full potential, it could be a flight nightmare, not only for travelers in the East, but also throughout the nation.”
After drenching coastal Texas on Monday, the storm will cruise eastward along the Gulf coast Monday night and Tuesday.
Travel delays on the I-10 and I-20 corridors are in store from Louisiana to Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and northern Florida from rain-soaked highways and poor visibility from downpours.
The rain can be heavy enough and cloud ceilings low enough to delay flights at New Orleans, Atlanta and other airports in the region.
Thanksgiving travelers in the East and South on Tuesday and Wednesday will face trouble as a storm brings most areas rain but could also bring heavy snow to a narrow swath
During Tuesday night, the drenching rain will begin to swing northeastward across South and North Carolina to Virginia, along the I-95 and I-85 corridors.
Right along the Gulf coast and over part of the southern Atlantic Seaboard, there is also the potential for strong to locally severe thunderstorms.
The exact track and intensity of the storm as it swings up or slips off the East Coast Tuesday night into Wednesday night are still in question and hold the key to dry weather versus rain versus snow in some locations.
Even if rain were to fall over much of the area, it would be enough to slow travel on the highways and delay a number of flights. Gusty winds would also factor in to delays along the coast, even if the storm were to roll out to sea.
Rain is the most likely form of precipitation from Virginia to near New York City then southeastern New England, with the air simply being too warm or the warm waters of the Atlantic Ocean exerting its influence. This includes Richmond, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and Philadelphia.
If fresh cold air invades the storm, then there could be a period of snow over the mountains from northern West Virginia and western Maryland to central and northeastern Pennsylvania, upstate New York and western and northern New England. If this scenario pans out, major travel disruptions could be in store for portions of I-80, I-81, I-87, I-90 and I-91.
Only if the storm were to strengthen a great deal and draw more cold air in would there be a change from rain to snow in New York City, Hartford, Connecticut, and Boston.
For those traveling on Thanksgiving Day, the storm or its near-miss will likely have exited much of the region. However, some rain or snow is still possible early in the day in northern New England.
More details on the track of the storm and forecast for the Northeast will be released on AccuWeather.com as they becomes available.
A storm is forecast to move in from the Pacific Ocean during the middle of the week.
This storm will has a chance of bringing rain to the I-5 corridor in California to part of Oregon Wednesday into Thanksgiving Day.
As a result, there is a chance of wet weather and perhaps travel delays from San Francisco to Los Angeles. Some snow is possible in the Sierra Nevada and over Donner Pass along I-80.
Much of the rest of the nation will have good travel conditions.
Beware, aircraft and flight crews originating from the South and Northeast could be delayed, perhaps causing ripple-effect problems with a few flights throughout the nation.
There will be bands of lake-effect snow over the Upper Midwest, due to fresh cold air moving in Tuesday and Wednesday. The lake-effect snow should diminish in most locations by Thanksgiving Day.
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