A New York City sal spreader, one of hundreds strategically stationed Saturday night to start its work before the snow fall starts several hours later.
Yet another Arctic blast is heading towards the Central and Eastern United States and it may serve to keep temperatures within a few degrees plus-or-minus of the freezing mark until we hear from the groundhog on the second of February.
The Northeast woke up to snow showers Saturday morning, but those quickly dissipated. New York Mayor Eric Adams, who is up for reelection this year, took extra care not to repeat the mistake of his predecessor Mayor John Lindsay, who in 1969 failed to keep the streets plowed in the borough of Queens.
February 9, 1969, was to have been an ordinary, dark and gloomy winter day in the big city. The forecast called for rain and the Lindsay administration expected slushy conditions at the very worst.
Instead, the city got 15” (38 cm) of white stuff. From that Sunday, it took until Wednesday to clear major highways, open schools, and get commuter rails and full subway service up and running. The storm resulted in a total of 42 deaths and 21 of those was in Queens. The city didn’t get streets in that borough fully cleared of snow until one week after the snowfall had ended.
Fortunately for mayors of Northern cities, the weather pattern in the coming week will not be conducive for major storms although it could very likely trigger bands of heavy lake-effect snow downwind of the Great Lakes, along with some breakaway snow squalls that can prowl the Midwest and Northeast.
For travelers, the greatest impact is in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Going into the afternoon, just under 1,000 flights within, into, and out of the United States have been cancelled as of 12:30 p.m. EST and an additional 3,011 are experiencing. On Friday, 3,537 flights were cancelled and an additional 7,185 were delayed.
Then, as today, Charlotte-Douglas International and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International airports lead not only the nation but the world in flight cancellatios.
On Friday, some 76% of all flights, representing 794 departures, were canceled at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport on Friday, the airport which leads the world in cancellations at the present time, while that figure is just 14%, or 154 flights, on Saturday.. Charlotte-Douglas International Airport reported on Friday that 43% of flights, or 359 aircraft movements, were cancelled, and, on Saturday, that figure is 15%, or 111 flights.
(Photo: Accura Media Group)
