January 3, 2014

More than 100 million people from the Midwest to the East Coast ushered in the New Year while contending with heavy snowfalls, blustery winds, and piercing cold. The first major winter storm of 2014, which began tapering off in the Northeast this morning, led the governors of New York and New Jersey, as well as a number of local officials, to declare states of emergency. At least 13 people were reported dead, as snowfalls of up to 21 inches (53 centimeters) and wind gusts of up to 30 miles (48 kilometers) per hour clogged highways and city streets, forced some 2,300 flight cancellations, closed businesses, and extended the winter holiday for tens of thousands of students. Many of the storm’s victims died in traffic accidents.

The blizzard hit the Midwest on New Year’s Eve, lingering for nearly 48 hours to dump up to 17 inches (43 centimeters) of snow on Illinois and Michigan. The storm then merged with a low-pressure system off the Atlantic Coast to create a nor’easter (a storm with high winds that blow from the northeast). Some areas also suffered bitterly cold temperatures. The wind chill in Burlington, Vermont, dropped to a dangerous -29 °F (-34 °C). A new weather system was forecast to bring subzero temperatures to an area stretching from the Northern Plains to New England by this weekend and early next week.

Blizzard is a blinding snowstorm with strong, cold winds. (AP Photo)

Additional articles in World Book:

• The Forecast: Better Weather Prediction Ahead (a Special Report)

February 8, 2013

The first snowflakes of what could be a massive winter storm began falling on New England this morning. The storm was expected to lash an area from New York City to Maine with wind gusts up to 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour and potential snowfalls of 3 feet (1 meter). Up to 8 million people could be affected. “This is going to be a dangerous winter storm,” said Alan Dunham, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Taunton, Massachusetts, told The Washington Post. “Wherever you need to get to, get there by Friday afternoon and don’t plan on leaving.”

(Credit: © Colin McPherson, Corbis)

As New Englanders scrambled to stock up on food, gasoline, and other supplies, airlines cut more than 3,700 flights and hundreds of schools canceled classes. Amtrak suspended service northboard out of Pennsylvania Station in New York City and southbound out of Boston. Officials in Boston, which could get 2 to 3 feet of snow, announced that the city’s mass transit system would cease operations at 3:30 this afternoon. Meteorolgists were forecasting 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 centimeters) of snow for New York City and a threat of flooding in coastal areas battered by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012. The storm was expect to peak early Saturday morning, though the effects of the blizzard, including impassable streets and power failures, could linger.

Additional World Book articles:

• Snow
• The Forecast: Better Weather Prediction Ahead (a special report)

December 26, 2012

A powerful winter storm brought a white Christmas to the U.S. Midwest and tornadoes to the South. Little Rock, Arkansas, received 9 inches (91 centimeters) of snow, breaking a December 25 snowfall record that had stood for 86 years, and blizzard conditions hampered holiday travel in parts of Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

The National Weather Service reported the sighting of more than 30 tornadoes in a line stretching from Texas and Louisiana to Mississippi and Alabama. Hardest hit was Mobile, Alabama, where numerous twisters and brutal, straight-line winds knocked down countless trees, blew off roofs, and left thousands of households without electric power on Christmas Day.

(Credit: © Colin McPherson, Corbis)

The storm caused the deaths of at least six people, primarily victims of car accidents on snow- and sleet-slickened highways in Arkansas and Oklahoma. One man was killed in Houston, Texas, when a tree fell on his pickup truck.

The same storm system is currently moving eastward, threatening the Carolinas. By the end of the week, it was expected to move up into the Northeast, with 12 inches (30 centimeters) of snow predicted.

Additional World Book articles:

• Weather
• The Forecast: Better Weather Prediction Ahead (a special report)
• Weather Terms—Cloudy or Clear? (a special report)

December 20, 2012

The first major snowstorm of the season in the Midwestern United States has already left at least three people dead in two states. In Utah, a woman who had attempted to walk to safety after her vehicle became stuck in the snow was found dead. Two people were killed in a snow-related car crash in Wisconsin.

Blizzard warnings were issued for 16 states. Subzero temperatures and blizzard conditions were dropping as much as 1 foot (30 centimeters) of snow from Kansas to Wisconsin, with the Rocky Mountains already blanketed. In southwestern parts of Iowa, winds as high as 53 miles (85 kilometers) per hour were being recorded, and nearly 1 foot (30 centimeters) of snow had already fallen in Des Moines, the Iowa state capital. By Thursday morning, hundreds of flights had been canceled at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, creating problems for holiday travelers.

A blizzard is a blinding snowstorm with strong, cold winds. (© Colin McPherson, Corbis)

The National Weather Service is warning those in the path of the storm to stay off roads because of poor visibility. Tornado warnings remain in effect for parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, where high winds on the southern edge of the storm are peeling the roofs off buildings, toppling trucks, and downing power lines.

Additional World Book articles:

• Weather 
• The Forecast: Better Weather Prediction Ahead (a special report)
• Weather Terms— Cloudy or Clear? (a special report)

October 28, 2012

Hurricane Sandy continues to sweep northward through the Atlantic Ocean en route to what forecasters agree will be a devastating landfall along the New Jersey coast, possibly within 100 miles (160 kilometers) of New York City. According to the National Hurricane Center, the huge storm, which is 1,000 miles (1,610 kilometers) wide, is currently producing sustained winds of 85 miles (137 kilometers) per hour and is moving north by northwest at approximately 20 miles (32 kilometers) per hour.

The Hurricane Center issued a warning yesterday that Sandy is likely to create a “life-threatening storm surge” that could cause record-breaking coastal flooding from Delaware to southern New England. In response, authorities across the region ordered the evacuation of low-lying areas. Hurricane Center forecasters predicted that the storm surge could be as much as 11 feet (3.35 meters) above normal tide levels along New York Bay and Long Island Sound. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered the shutdown of subway, bus, and railroad services, and New York City Mayor Bloomberg ordered residents in low-lying areas to evacuate. The mayor also ordered the city schools closed.

Storm surges from Hurricane Sandy were expected to hit the bays south of New York City as well as Long Island Sound northeast of the city. (World Book map)

As Hurricane Sandy approaches land, it will collide with a severe winter storm that is moving across the country from the west. At the same time, forecasters expect a burst of arctic air to sweep down through the Canadian Plains. The confluence of these weather systems is expected to wreck havoc from the East Coast to the Great Lakes, even producing massive blizzards as far west as Ohio and Kentucky.

Forecasters believe the storm is on a scale with little precedent along the East Coast. “One of the biggest storms of our lifetimes is unfolding right now,” predicted meteorologist Kelly Cass on The Weather Channel during the cable network’s fourth day of nonstop storm coverage. Public utility officials estimate that as many as 10 million people living along the Philadelphia-New York-Boston corridor are likely to lose electric power as Hurricane Sandy topples trees and light poles, pulling down power lines. The region has not faced a storm this destructive since the New England hurricane of 1938, which left some 600 people dead.

A satellite image taken on Monday, October 28, shows Hurricane Sandy (circular storm) meeting a winter storm (north to south line) covering the Appalachian Mountains. (NASA Earth Observatory image by Robert Simmon with data courtesy of the NASA/NOAA GOES Project Science team.)

Additional World Book articles:

• National Weather Service
• Weather (1938) (a Back in Time article)
• The Forecast: Better Weather Prediction Ahead (a special report)
• How the Ocean Affects Climate (a special report)

Feb. 15, 2012

A record-breaking cold snap that began in late January has left more than 600 people dead in Eastern Europe. Authorities confirmed today that the bitter cold has claimed the lives of more than 300 people in Russia and Ukraine alone. The meteorological institute in the Czech Republic reported the lowest-ever temperature for February 5: -38 °F (-39 °C). Ice has closed the Danube River to navigation in Austria, and even Venice’s famed canals are frozen over.

The region also has been pummeled by the heaviest blizzards in recent memory. In the Czech Republic, blinding snow caused two massive car pile-ups today, involving some 100 vehicles. Entire communities in Bosnia and Italy are inaccessible due to heavy snowfall and electric-power outages. Officials estimate that more than 20,000 people remain isolated in hard-hit Romania, where more than a week of heavy snowfall has blocked roads and crippled the rail system. In Bulgaria, a combination of snowmelt and heavy rains caused a dam to burst, killing four people in a village downstream.

World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.

According to meteorologists (people who study the science of weather), the frigid air and snow in Eastern Europe is caused by differences in atmospheric pressure between the Arctic and mid-latitudes (the areas on Earth between the tropics and the polar regions). When air pressure over the Arctic is low and pressure over the mid-latitudes is high, prevailing winds confine extremely cold air to the Arctic. However, when air pressure over the Arctic rises in conjunction with falling air pressure at the mid-latitudes, Arctic air moves south, as it is doing now. Another factor, note meteorologists, is a very strong and persistent high-pressure area over Russia. Airflow around this high is transporting cold Siberian air west into Europe.

Additional World Book articles:

• Climate
• Jet stream
• Weather