AFTER RARE ICE AND SNOW HIT SOUTHEAST
by Sharon Rondeau
(Jan. 3, 2018) — A new Twitter hashtag of “Bomb Cyclone” contains references to a number of reports predicting one of the fiercest winter storms in a century to hit the Northeast U.S. on Thursday, with strong wind gusts expected for Friday.
In late October, New England experienced another unusual cyclone which knocked out power for days in some areas, including this writer’s. Because of the warm temperatures at the time, however, there was no snow or ice.
For the last nine days, colder-than-normal temperatures have blanketed the country from the Pacific Northwest to the upper Midwest to the Southeast and Northeast, with a rare freezing rain expected in New Orleans, LA this coming weekend and Tallahassee, FL and Charleston, SC receiving snow today.
TIME is reporting that the major winter storm has been named “Winter Storm Grayson.”
Fox 61 in Hartford, CT predicted on Wednesday evening that the “Nor’easter” is expected to bring “six or more inches of snow within a 12-hour period” accompanied by “blizzard warnings” and winds of up to 70 mph.
Connecticut’s Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has instructed residents to “stay off the roads at all costs,” and virtually all schools and child care centers will be closed on Thursday.
Power outages are expected.