Florida records first snowfall in 30 years due to ‘Bombogenesis’
Bombogenesis brings snowfall to the sunshine state
A major winter storm dubbed ‘Bombogenesis’ began its frigid assault on the East Coast on Wednesday, draping southern states with levels of snow and ice unseen in decades as forecasters warned that parts of the Northeast soon could face blizzard conditions.
As snow fell as far south as Florida, dire predictions and winter storm warnings stretched north to Maine. The National Weather Service said areas between Virginia Beach and Boston could see up to a foot of snow by Thursday night, with even more possible elsewhere in New England.The governors of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia declared states of emergency, warning residents to expect icy roads and freezing temperatures. In the northeast, work crews loaded trucks with road salt in advance of the storm.
The New York City Department of Education said it would close public schools on Thursday because of severe weather. The National Weather Service predicted New York could see 5-8 inches of snow and wind gusts as high as 50 mph on Thursday.
Meteorologists issued bleak forecasts Wednesday about what could make its way across the Northeast Corridor. The National Weather Service extended its blizzard warning into Boston, said New England could see up to 3 inches of snowfall per hour and warned it would make “travel difficult if not impossible.”
The Washington region is expected to miss the worst of the snow with forecasts predicting between a dusting to two inches in the metropolitan area. Some points to the east could see up to four inches or nothing at all. Outside the Beltway region, forecasts are calling for heavier conditions, with up to a foot possible in the Norfolk, Virginia, area.
The storm already was wreaking havoc on air travel ahead of its arrival in the Northeast, grounding waves of flights. More than 2,000 flights scheduled for Thursday were halted, most of them through Boston and the three New York-area airports. Airlines bracing for the weather issued waivers for travelers heading through essentially the entire East Coast, allowing people to change their flights without fees.
