Parts of the Niagara Falls between the United States and Canada have frozen again as another deadly winter storm hit the US East Coast with freezing rain, snow and near-record cold, cancelling about 2,900 flights, shutting down Washington and closing schools and local governments.
But the sub-freezing temperatures of minus 18degCelsius at the falls did not put off tourists visiting the world famous destination to enjoy a spectacular view of a frozen Niagara Falls.
The latest in a series of weather systems to pummel the winter-weary eastern United States, the storm dumped about 10 centimetres of snow on the US capital by early evening as it swept from the Mississippi Valley to the Atlantic coast, the National Weather Service said. Temperatures would be about 15degC below normal as a cold front settled in from Great Plains to the Atlantic coast,
Instead of the normal high of around 10degC, temperatures in the region were plunging to minus 8degCelsius, said Brian Hurley, a weather service meteorologist.
Freeze warnings were in place from the Canadian border into Texas. The main electric grid operator for most of Texas issued a conservation alert due to expected higher demand, and heavy sleet left about 30,000 homes and businesses in Memphis, Tennessee, out of power, Memphis Light, Gas and Water reported.
Schools and government offices along the East Coast were closed Tuesday or delayed opening. Virginia State Police said slickened roads were factors in three traffic deaths. And authorities in Maryland's Prince George's County said a 60-year-old woman died after shoveling snow there.
Blame it on the 'polar vortex' again
"That is the buzzword this winter, the polar vortex. That cold air just kind of migrates around the poles and the extreme northern latitudes all the time," said Jim Lee, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in Sterling, Virginia. "The jet stream enables that colder air to move down the East Coast."
Monday's snowstorm followed a pattern that's become routine. Schools and government offices were closed. Federal workers stayed home - the fourth weather-related shutdown this season. Young adults gathered on the sloppy, slushy National Mall for a semi-organised, afternoon snowball fight.
Tourists, who flock to the nation's capital 365 days a year, were seeking out whatever activities they could find.
The National Air and Space Museum was the only Smithsonian institution open, and it drew a crowd. Among the visitors were Russ Watters, 60, of St. Louis, and his 14-year-old son, Seth, who was touring Washington with his 8th-grade class.
"We're trying to find stuff that's open, so this is open," Watters said.
The storm had a major effect south of the Mason-Dixon line. Governors declared states of emergency in Virginia and Tennessee, where there were hundreds of traffic accidents and tens of thousands of power outages. Nearly 3,000 flights were cancelled Monday.
In Falls Church, Virginia, daredevils took advantage of another snow day by sledding down a steep hill behind an elementary school. Maya Luera, 11, said she wouldn't be so happy in June, when the school year will be extended because there's been so much snow.
"I'm more of a summer person, so I'd rather have more free time in the summer than the winter," she said.
CBS/AP
source: newshub archive
