At a glance: East cleans up from latest storm
Feb 14, 2014, 2:39 PM
(AP) – The latest winter storm to pummel the country was moving off the East Coast by Friday morning after slamming the Southeast with traffic jams and power outages and dropping a foot or more of snow on parts of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Yet another round of snow was forecast for parts of the region Saturday. A sampling of what the most recent storm brought:
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IN THE DARK: About 1.2 million homes and businesses lost power as the storm moved from the South through the Northeast. By Friday morning, about 440,000 customers remained in the dark, the vast majority in South Carolina and Georgia.
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TREACHEROUS TRAVEL: Lingering snow and ice made for a treacherous commute in many areas Friday morning. Christopher Ott, a district sales manager for a coffee-supply company, rose at 4 a.m. to dig out for the second time in two days, then drove more than 20 miles on snow-packed roads in eastern Pennsylvania to a company warehouse _ only to find the parking lot still buried in 15 inches of snow. In Georgia and the Carolinas, officials urged caution on roads still covered with snow, slush and ice.
The storm canceled thousands of flights across the country; by Friday morning, the number was down to about 1,200, according to the website FlightAware. Many of the region’s airports, roads and businesses were reopening amid forecasts for a sunny Friday.
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ADDING IT UP: As of early this month, Washington, Detroit, Boston, Chicago, New York and St. Louis had gotten roughly two or three times as much snow as they normally receive at this point in the season. Snow totals from the latest storm included 27 inches in Berne, N.Y., southwest of Albany; 8 inches in northern South Carolina; 11.5 inches in Worcester, Mass.; 11 inches in Philadelphia; nearly 9 inches in Washington; and nearly 10 inches in New York City. The normally temperate Atlanta area saw a total of 3 to 5 inches of frozen precipitation, including a quarter-inch or more of ice, 1 to 2 inches of sleet and 1 to 2 inches of snow.
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MORE IN THE FORECAST: More snow, though “considerably less” than what happened earlier this week, is forecast by the National Weather Service from the central Appalachians to New England.
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NOT SO LOVABLE: The latest round of dangerous weather threatened to disrupt deliveries of Valentine’s Day flowers. “It’s a godawful thing,” said Mike Flood, owner of Falls Church Florist in Virginia. “We’re going to lose money. There’s no doubt about it.” Aislinn Smith, owner of Edible Arrangements franchises in Poughkeepsie and Kingston, N.Y., rented four-wheel-drive vehicles to make her Valentine’s deliveries.
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THE WEATHERMAN AND THE MAYOR: NBC weatherman Al Roker is largely standing by his shellacking of New York City’s new mayor for keeping public schools open. But he is apologizing for his tweet forecasting one term for Bill de Blasio. Roker said Friday on the “Today” show that his tweet a day earlier was “below the line.” De Blasio said Thursday that keeping the schools open was the right decision.
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A DEADLY TOLL: At least 21 deaths, most of them in traffic accidents, were blamed on the storm as it made its way across the South and up the coast. A pregnant woman in New York City was struck by a snow plow and killed. Her baby was delivered by cesarean section.
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UPSIDE-DOWN WEATHER: While Northeast residents suffered through bitter cold yet again, temperatures reached into the mid-60s on Thursday at the Winter Games in Sochi and were expected to hit 63 on Friday. Russian officials say they have not needed to tap into their snow reserves on the mountain yet and all events are taking place on schedule.
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