Snowstorm misses Washington, heads Northeast

An unpredictable winter storm that buried parts of the central and mid-Atlantic regions with snow but entirely missed Washington was headed early Thursday for the northeastern United States, where it was expected to bring strong wind, more snow, and the possibility of coastal flooding. The late-winter storm on Thursday brought new damage to parts of the New Jersey shore still struggling to recover from superstorm Sandy. The National Weather Service (NWS) was predicting up to 17.5 centimeters of heavy wet snow in Connecticut through Friday morning and wind gusts that could reach 80 kilometers per hour, causing power outages. A coastal flood warning was in effect beginning Thursday morning for east-facing shores of Massachusetts, with up to a 1-meter surge at high tide in some areas. The storm hit the mid-Atlantic region Wednesday, dropping almost 60 centimeters of snow in some places and knocking out electricity to about 250,000 homes and businesses. But it missed the U.S. capital, where warmer-than-expected temperatures resulted in steady rain, not snow. Washington was expecting much worse and had had essentially shut down. Officials did not want a repeat of 2011, when an afternoon snowstorm stranded rush-hour commuters for hours, so they told people to stay home. The storm battered the central United States on Tuesday, killing at least four people in weather-related traffic accidents. More than 1,100 flights were cancelled Tuesday at Chicago's two airports, and hundreds more were cancelled Wednesday in Washington, Philadelphia, and New York City. --SPA