After making a mess as far south as Texas, the days-long winter storm trudged through the Northeast on Friday bringing a mix of snow, ice and rain along the way -- and setting the stage for another Arctic blast.
Clouds from the far-reaching winter storm can be seen from Mexico to Canada on Friday, Feb. 4, 2022. (NOAA/GOES-EAST)
An enormous winter storm that began late on Tuesday over the middle of the country was bringing its messy mix of snow, ice and rain to the Northeast on Friday, canceling flights and making for treacherous travel conditions, as it made its last gasp before pulling in another blast of Arctic air behind it.
More than 14 inches of snow were recorded across a vast area, stretching from Illinois to Maine. One of the highest snowfall totals came out of Johnsburg, New York, about 245 miles north of New York City, with a total of 15.3 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
Burlington, Vermont, set a new daily snowfall record on Thursday with 6.5 inches of snow, breaking the 112-year-old record for Feb. 3, set back in 1910, of 6.2 inches.
In the wake of the storm, snow coverage for the contiguous United States reached its highest point so far this winter. The storm spread snow from the southern Rockies to northern New England, resulting in 50.7% of the contiguous U.S. being covered in snow, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as of Friday.
As the temperatures in the atmosphere fluctuated from above freezing to below freezing, there were areas that received a mix of winter precipitation, like freezing rain and sleet.
As water droplets fall toward the ground, they encounter a layer of below-freezing air. This is what determines if there is sleet or freezing rain. If there is a thick layer of cold air above the ground, the raindrops freeze into balls of ice, known as sleet, before reaching the ground. In extreme cases, sleet can accumulate several inches, similar to snow.
The highest sleet totals were in New Philadelphia, Ohio, and Meddybemps, Maine, where 4.5 inches of sleet was measured Friday morning.
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If there is a very thin layer of cold air above the ground, the water droplets do not have enough time to freeze before reaching the surface. Instead, the water droplets freeze after contact with the surface, glazing everything with a layer of ice.
The highest freezing rain reports came out of northeastern Pennsylvania with 0.80 of an inch measured in the town of Lake Ariel, just outside of Scranton. Right behind that was nearby Springbrook Corner, Pennsylvania, with a total of 0.78 of an inch of freezing rain.
Snow falls on a ground crew working outside a parked plane at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport in Grapevine, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. A major winter storm with millions of Americans in its path is spreading rain, freezing rain and heavy snow further across the country. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
The weight of the ice on tree limbs and power lines is one of the chief reasons there were so many power outages.
By Friday afternoon, nearly 400,000 customers were without power, according to PowerOutage.us. Tennessee accounted for more than one-quarter of the almost 400,000 outages, most of which were reported in southwestern Tennessee, in and around Memphis.
Power outages extended beyond Tennessee on Friday, covering parts of the Midwest and Northeast. Ohio and New York reported over 50,000 power outages on Friday evening. Pennsylvania and West Virginia were also reporting widespread power outages on Friday evening.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul urged New Yorkers to stay off roadways as slick conditions were expected to develop into the Friday evening commute. “This storm is throwing everything at us,” Hochul said. “It is literally a day full of freezing rain coming down.”
Along with bus services being canceled, more than 3,000 flights were canceled within, into or out of the U.S., according to FlightAware.com. The majority of flight cancellations came from American Airlines, accounting for more than 800 flights. This was the third day in a row that flight cancellations in the U.S. exceeded 3,000 due to wintry weather as the storm tracked across the country.
On Friday, Boston Logan and LaGuardia airports were experiencing the most flight cancellations outside of Dallas, according to Flight Aware. Boston Logan Airport had 240 flights cancelled while LaGuardia showed 233 as of Friday evening.
AccuWeather forecasters warn colder air pouring into the Northeast in the wake of this winter storm will lead to a freeze-up in many areas.
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