A powerful nor’easter continues to roll through the East Coast for the second time in less than a week, bringing another round of blackouts, treacherous roads and canceled flights.
The storm dumped snow in several areas Wednesday, including New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. It shifted its focus to New England on Thursday, where it’ll linger until Friday.
About 19 million people, from Connecticut to Maine, remained under winter storm warnings and watches Thursday, days after a deadly “bomb cyclone” hit the area.
Snow and rain are a concern along with the aftermath of fallen trees, knocked out power lines and slippery roads.
“New England will still be feeling the effects of the wind and residual snowfall (though light) through Friday,” CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said.
Here’s what to expect:
What states will be most affected?
The storm has mostly passed in most areas in the Northeast, and is expected to linger over northern New England on Thursday.
While this storm is not expected to be as strong as last week’s as far as wind and waves, it will produce much more snow in some areas, CNN meteorologist Michael Guy said.
“Bands of heavy snow have moved east of the Hudson River and will continue to move … into southern and central New England during the next few hours,” the National Weather Service said early Thursday. “Rain is changing to snow across southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.”
How much snow?
When it comes to snowfall, New York should breathe a sigh of relief. While snow continued to fall there overnight Thursday, it should be “completely out of the region” by morning, according to the weather service.
But parts of New England will see heavy to moderate snow overnight into Thursday morning, forecasters said.
It will linger the longest over eastern New England, which will see manageable light snow as late as noon.
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker urged residents to use caution and stay off the roads during the height of the storm.
The Boston area is forecast to receive 6 to 8 inches of snow by Thursday morning, and Mayor Marty Walsh announced public schools will be closed that day.
More blackouts
Winds and snow are bringing down more power lines, piling on to the crippling outages remaining from last weekend’s storm.
By late Wednesday night, there were about 329,000 customers without power, from Virginia to New England.
The storm is expected to pack wind gusts of 30 mph to 50 mph. While a far cry from the 90-mph gusts recorded during the weekend, storm, they could impede efforts to restore power in the region.
The heavy, wet snow is not helping either, combining with the strong winds to heighten the risk of downed power lines and as a result, knock out power to more homes and businesses.
States affected
Philadelphia, New York and Boston are digging out from lots of snow.
Philadelphia was forecast to get between 6 to 8 inches Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced a state of emergency for several counties.
In New York, the town of Sloatsburg topped the list of most snowfall Wednesday night, with 26 inches within 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo deployed 400 National Guard troops to conduct wellness checks and assist with storm recovery.
Boston faces coastal flooding Thursday due to high tide, the National Weather Service said.
“Already observing an over 3-foot storm surge at Boston; obvious concern with onshore wind gusts upon a weakened, vulnerable shoreline,” it tweeted, referring to last week’s storm.
The snowstorm also brought a rare phenomenon in some parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, the weather service said. Known as “thundersnow,” it’s snow paired with lightning and resulting thunder.
How is it affecting travel?
More than 400 flights — including at airports in New Jersey, New York, Boston and Philadelphia — were canceled within, into or out of the United States on Thursday, according to FlightAware.
As for ground travel, New York City’s Office of Emergency Management issued a hazardous travel advisory urging residents to “take mass transit if possible and allow for extra travel time.”
Amtrak has also canceled some services in the affected areas.