Mid-Atlantic braces for second snowstorm

 

 

Starting Tuesday evening, snow forecast to hit Eastern cities still digging out from a weekend wallop could keep some people stuck at home for a week and cause a second round of disruptions to air travel.

"I already told the boss: I'm working from home Wednesday," said Susan McGinn, 40, of Newark, Del., who stopped at the Sterling Grille in downtown Wilmington on Monday for a break from her snowbound existence.

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The storm, the second major snowfall in three days, is forecast to sock Washington, Baltimore and Philadelphia with 12 to 18 inches of snow on top of the 2 to 3 feet that crippled the area Friday through Sunday, said Mike Eckert, a National Weather Service forecaster. It could also bring 8 to 16 inches of snow to New York and Boston, he said.

Eckert predicted the storm will break records for snowfall in a single winter set in 1995-96: In Philadelphia, where 56.3 inches of snow has already fallen this season, the snowiest winter had 65.5 inches; and in Baltimore, where 60.4 inches has fallen, the old record was 62.5 inches.

Wind gusts of up to 40 mph could cause "widespread blizzard conditions" from Washington to southern New England, Eckert said. Add that to the snow that hit the Midwest and Plains states Monday, and disruptions could worsen at airports that are still struggling with the weekend snow.

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Southwest Airlines, which canceled 500 flights when its busy hub in Baltimore shut down for nearly three days, began a new round of cancellations of flights to and from Chicago's Midway Airport on Monday, spokeswoman Marilee McInnis said.

The storm will force Virginia Department of Transportation crews to ignore side streets and cul-de-sacs that haven't been plowed until the end of this week, because interstates and primary roads must be cleared first, spokesman Jeff Caldwell said.

Safeway, which has 176 supermarkets from New Jersey to Virginia, is having a hard time keeping shelves stocked with milk, eggs and bread, spokesman Craig Muckle said. "There may be challenges there," he said.

Tired of sitting around, 82-year-old Jim Johns of Waynesboro, Va., was out using his snowblower on his neighbor's driveway Monday afternoon.

"I bought the snowblower in '91, and really this has been the first time I've had a use for it."

Contributing: Doyle Rice; Mike Chalmers, The News Journal in Wilmington, Del.; and Katharine Lackey, The News-Leader in Staunton, Va.