A worker uses a front-end loader to remove piled snow Feb. 7, 2015, from a street in Marlborough, Mass.(Photo: Bill Sikes, AP)
Snow-weary New England braced for another massive wintry blast Sunday while people in northern California and the Pacific Northwest faced more rain and heavy winds.
Parts of New England, already reeling from record-breaking snow in the past two weeks, were expecting up to 2 feet of snow Sunday and Monday. On the West Coast, flooding and landslides were possible from San Francisco northward.
Severe weather on two coasts meant misery for travelers. Hundreds of commercial flights were canceled.
Upstate New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine all could see heavy snow, AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Pydynowski told USA TODAY. Boston and Worcester, Mass., scene of record-breaking snowfalls in recent weeks, once again are in the crosshairs.
"The Boston area could easily get 12 to 18 inches this time around," Pydynowski said.
Boston was blasted with 16 inches of snow Feb. 2, less than a week after 2 feet of snow paralyzed the city. With a total of 40.5 inches in a week, the city broke its all-time seven-day snowfall record, the National Weather Service reported. Worcester, Mass., was hit with 47 inches of snow over the same period.
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh ordered public schools closed Monday and Tuesday. Gov. Charlie Baker ordered state offices closed Monday and urged businesses to allow workers to stay home.
"This is an unprecedented area that we're heading into now in the city of Boston as far as the amount of snow," Walsh said.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker said state offices would be closed Monday.
Even more snow may be on the way. A system forecast to reach the area Thursday could bring 6 or more inches, Pydynowski said.
"For Boston, the hits just keep on coming," he said.
Northern California saw a return of downpours after a powerful storm Friday that downed trees and power lines and led to dozens of flight cancellations at San Francisco's airport. Almost 100,000 people lost power in the San Francisco Bay Area Friday night.
National Weather Service forecaster Austin Cross said the Bay Area was seeing scattered and calmer winds late Sunday. Wind gusts of over 45 mph were reported earlier in the day, with steady rainfall that dropped an additional 2 inches of rain in coastal areas.
"Flooding and mudslides are a possibility for Northern California, and for parts of Oregon and Washington as well," Pydynowski said.
FlightAware.com, which tracks flights, counted more than 600 cancellations Sunday within, into or out of the USA. The worst-hit airports included Boston, San Francisco and the New York airports. More than 900 Monday flights were already canceled.
Airlines have begun offering free flight changes for flights Monday and Tuesday for travel later in the week. Airlines and airports urged travelers to check on their specific plans.
For example, United Airlines is waiving change fees for flights at airports from Scranton, Pa., to Toronto. JetBlue is waiving change fees for flights at airports from Newark to Buffalo.
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Even so, the cancellations remain a fraction of those from recent major storms. More than 14,400 flights were grounded during the last week of January and the first week of February from two storms that snarled flights across the Northeast and Midwest.
Contributing: Bart Jansen, William M. Welch; Associated Press
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