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[h=4]Mighty storm hammers Northeast; NYC 'dodges bullet'[/h]"Historic" winter storm set to batter 7 states, impacting 40 million
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More than 50 million people hunkered down as a mighty winter storm pounded down on cities in the Northeast forcing statewide road travel bans. Thousands of people were left stranded as more than 7,000 flights were cancelled. VPC
Water floods a street in coastal Scituate, Mass., after a storm packing blizzard conditions spun up the East Coast early Jan. 27.(Photo: Michael Dwyer, AP)
A mighty storm smashing across the Northeast on Tuesday showed mercy on New York City and Philadelphia but relentlessly pounded Boston and many coastal areas with driving snow, high winds and flooding.
More than 50 million people were hunkered down in the angry storm's path. More than 7,000 flights were canceled, road travel was banned in several states and schools were closed for millions of kids.
Boston was hammered with withering, blizzard conditions and the island of Nantucket, Mass., and its 10,000-plus residents were without power for hours.
The storm was forecast to continue roaring through much of the region into Wednesday, although forecasters downgraded the potential impact in some areas. The National Weather Service said the storm tracked 50 to 75 miles further east than expected.
"It's a case of haves and have nots," AccuWeather meteorologist Tyler Roys told USA TODAY on Tuesday. "The worst of it is in the coastal areas. Other places have been relatively spared."
Philadelphia, which on Monday morning appeared to be vulnerable to huge snow totals, had about an inch downtown early Tuesday. A blizzard warning was canceled for New York City and New Jersey.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio opened city streets to traffic Tuesday morning, and the subway system was being brought up to speed. The city had feared a blast of 20 inches of snow or more; Central Park had almost 8 inches Tuesday morning.
"This is a better-safe-than-sorry scenario," de Blasio said on CNN Tuesday morning. "It is still very bad on the streets ... but we dodged a bullet."
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo lifted driving bans everywhere except hardest-hit Suffolk County. Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy dropped western areas from the statewide ban, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie lifted the driving ban statewide.
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SHOTLIST:STATE OF NEW YORK HANDOUT - AP CLIENTS ONLYNew York - January 27, 20151. SOUNDBITE (English): Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-New York:"The storm, in general, I think it's fair to say, was less destructive than predicted, so far, but there were varianc AP
A sheepish National Weather Service office in New York posted this on its Facebook page: "The science of forecasting storms, while continually improving, still can be subject to error, especially if we're on the edge of the heavy precipitation shield. Efforts, including research, are already underway to more easily communicate that forecast uncertainty."
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Hyperlapse video shows the streets of New York City as the blizzard rolls in. VPC
Not everyone was feeling fortunate, however. Coastal areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Long Island, N.Y., were facing blizzard conditions — heavy snow with consistent wind gusts in excess of 35 mph.
"We just tried to let our 90- and 75-pound dogs out," said Abigail Zavod of Acton, Mass., where more than 20 inches had fallen by 9 a.m. "The snow was so deep they couldn't stand in it."
Framingham, Mass., had 30 inches of snow. Parts of Long Island had more than 28 inches early Tuesday. And there was plenty of storm left to go.
"A crippling and historic blizzard will continue to impact central and eastern New England into tonight," the weather service warned Tuesday.
At least an additional foot of snow was forecast to fall across most of eastern Massachusetts, southeastern New Hampshire, and most of Maine, according to The Weather Channel.
Sustained winds of 20 to 40 mph with gusts up to 55 mph are howling across much of eastern New England. Even higher winds are expected in eastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, where gusts of 70+ mph had been reported.
Some areas south and west of Boston could see 3 feet of snow by early Wednesday, Roys said
"It's a blizzard in Boston," Roys said. "And they will be seeing a whole lot of snow."
Near hurricane-force winds were causing whiteout conditions and coastal flooding in some areas, along with bone-chilling temperatures and icy roads.
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Three coastal towns in Massachusetts evacuated residents early Tuesday morning, fleeing ocean floodwaters that rushed in with high tide. The evacuations of Marshfield, Scituate and Hull were a precaution, Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency Director Kurt Schwartz said.
"The winds could lead to power outages, but the good news is there are no leaves on the trees," Roys said. "Tree limbs can only hold so much snow."
Nearly 8,000 flights from coast-to-coast were had already been canceled until Thursday by the blizzard, dubbed Winter Storm Juno by The Weather Channel and Blizzard '15 by several media outlets. Boston's Logan International Airport did not expect flights to resume until late Wednesday.
Amtrak service was suspended between New York and Boston for Tuesday, while other regional routes were operating on reduced schedules.
USA TODAY
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The storm's impacts could last long after it heads offshore: Power outages, snow-packed roads and school closures may last for days after the blizzard, AccuWeather meteorologist Brian Lada said.
Coastal New England should continue to see some of the worst impacts from the storm's pounding surf and near-hurricane force winds, including severe beach erosion and flooding of vulnerable shore roads and homes: "This storm has enough intensity that it could cause new inlets to be formed along barrier beaches," the National Weather Service in Boston warned.
Contributing: Kevin McCoy in New York; Gary Strauss in McLean, Va.; G. Jeffrey MacDonald in Boston; William M. Welch in Los Angeles.
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Cities and towns in the northeastern parts of the U.S. are preparing for blizzard-like conditions in what could be a record-breaking amount of snowfall. VPC
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