‘Bomb Cyclone’ Pummels Northeast, Whipping the East Coast With Snow and Bitter Cold
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen the water come this high in the downtown area,” Commissioner Finn
said, as the flooded roads turned slushy behind him and the wind whipped heavy snow through the air.
The Arctic is not as cold as it used to be — the region is warming faster than any other — and studies suggest
that this warming is weakening the jet stream, which ordinarily acts like a giant lasso, corralling cold air around the pole.
“We still don’t know the full effects at this time, but we do know
that the winds out there have been ferocious,” Mr. Cooper said on Thursday, urging North Carolinians to stay home.
“Virginians should keep a close watch on the local weather forecast
and stay off roads during this weather event unless travel is absolutely necessary,” the governor’s office said in a statement on Thursday, one day after Gov.
The National Weather Service updated its forecast to predict eight inches of snow in New York City and 15 inches on the eastern end of Long Island.
Yet the storm, notable for a steep drop in atmospheric pressure
that prompted some forecasters to describe it as a “bomb cyclone,” was but one act in a prolonged run of misery that has already enveloped millions of people in a wintry torment of Arctic air and snow-blown streets.
“I don’t know what happens — it’s a lot of snow.”
In New York, six inches of snow had piled up in parts of Brooklyn and Queens by noon, while sections of Long Island were coated in nine inches.