Winter Storm Whipping Northeast US with Snow, Thunderstorms

By Julie Walker.

NEW YORK (AP) — A dangerous winter storm brought significant snowfall, strong thunderstorms and blustery winds to the northeastern U.S. on a holiday Monday.

A foot (30 centimeters) or more of snow fell in parts of New York state, Ohio and Pennsylvania Sunday night through Monday morning, and tens of thousands of customers in the region were without power.

Forecasters in Buffalo, New York, said the snow was falling fast, dumping almost 17 inches (43 centimeters) by 10 a.m. The city advised people not to travel if they didn’t need to on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, while some surrounding towns instituted a travel ban.

“WOW! (Latest) snow measurement at 1 AM was 4.6 inches in the last hour at the Buffalo Airport!” the National Weather Service in Buffalo tweeted overnight. “And tack on another 4 inches in the last hour ending at 2 AM! Total so far since late Sun evening – 10.2 inches.”

The weather service said 17 inches (43 centimeters) or more of snow were reported in Ashtabula County in northeast Ohio.

“We’ve had a very strong area of low pressure that’s kind of moved up the coast, with pretty heavy snowfall accumulations from Tennessee, North Carolina all the way into the northeast,” said meteorologist Marc Chenard at the weather service’s headquarters in College Park, Maryland.

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