Snow and Snowstorms

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    What Spring? Snow Blankets the Northeast.

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    Two to five inches of snow fell over an area stretching from Albany, N.Y., to Maine overnight Friday into Saturday morning, forecasters said.Residents across a broad stretch of the Northeast woke up on Saturday to snow blanketing backyards and frosting trees, just as the pastel colors of Easter promised that spring was near.An area stretching from around Albany, N.Y., to Maine experienced moderate snowfall, mostly from two to five inches, overnight Friday into Saturday morning, according to the National Weather Service. And while spring technically started on March 20, snowfall at this time of year is far from rare.“In upstate New York, you know, a couple inches here and there is certainly not unheard-of, even in the early spring,” said Abbey Gant, a meteorologist with the Weather Service office in Albany.In Maine, where two to five inches of snow had fallen by Saturday morning, Michael Clair, a Weather Service meteorologist, said that the snow was “nothing we haven’t seen before.”It’s also something the state might see again before warmer weather moves in.“It’s still too early to say we’re done for sure,” Mr. Clair said. “This is sort of what our spring looks like. It’s a mix of things.”Snow was expected to continue through Saturday, tapering off as the day progressed, before the region dries out next week, forecasters said.For Jill Woodworth, 58, who grew up in Connecticut and has lived in Orange, Mass., for the past 25 years, waking up to snow in April can be routine, but it’s still shocking.In Orange, Mass., snow in April is not necessarily unusual but can still come as a bit of a shock, one resident said.Jill Woodworth“I’ve lived in this area for most of my life, and it’s not unusual, but it’s just like, ‘Oh my God,’” Ms. Woodworth said. “It feels like it’s been a long ramp up to spring with the flowers and the trees.”Ms. Woodworth said she remembered past Aprils when up to two feet of snow had fallen. This time around, she estimated that only about two inches had dusted her backyard, with no need to shovel any snow.“I’ll brush off the car, though,” she said, “before I go get Dunkin’.” More

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      Teen Who Set Off Avalanche Is Fourth Person Killed on Alaska Slopes This Month

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      A 16-year-old was riding a snowmobile in the Kenai Mountains when he was swept away and buried, officials said.An Alaska teenager who was riding a snowmobile was killed on Saturday when he set off an avalanche and was buried, becoming the fourth person in the state to lose their life in a mountain slide this month, the authorities said.The number is high for Alaska, which forecasters say in recent years has been averaging three avalanche deaths annually.The 16-year-old, whose body was recovered on Sunday, was identified by the Alaska State Troopers as Tucker Challan of Soldotna, Alaska. He was buried under about 10 feet of snow while riding in Turnagain Pass in the Kenai Mountains, about 60 miles south of Anchorage.The avalanche occurred on the backside of Seattle Ridge, in a popular recreation area known as Warmup Bowl, the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center said.At the time, the center reported, there was a weak layer of frost about two to three feet beneath the snow surface, which experts say can easily collapse and cause an avalanche. The layers form when the weather is clear and present a hidden danger with each new winter storm.“It’s like a layer cake,” Wendy Wagner, the center’s director, said in a phone interview on Monday. “It has been causing many avalanches.”According to the center, a group of people who were riding snow machines — often referred to as snowmobiles outside Alaska — dug Tucker out of the snow in about an hour, but he had died from his injuries.On the afternoon of his death, the center held an avalanche awareness program in a parking lot on the other side of the ridge, which it said was a coincidence. It is continuing to warn that people should avoid traveling on or below steep terrain.Noting that avalanches can reach speeds over 60 miles per hour, Ms. Wagner said that snowmobile riders and skiers should not assume that the snowpack is stable because other people have crossed it.“There can be a sense that if you trigger something that you can outrun it,” she said. “Just because there have been tracks on a slope doesn’t mean that slope is safe.”On March 4, three people who were part of a helicopter skiing excursion were killed when they were swept away in an avalanche near Girdwood, Alaska, about 20 miles from where Saturday’s slide happened.The authorities identified the three men as David Linder, 39, of Florida; Charles Eppard, 39, of Montana; and Jeremy Leif, 38, of Minnesota.Despite deploying their avalanche airbags, according to the helicopter skiing company that the skiers had hired, they were buried beneath 40 to 100 feet of snow and could not be reached.Ms. Wagner said this year had been particularly treacherous in Alaska.“It’s been an unusual year,” she said, “tragically.” More

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      Avalanche Buries Road Workers’ Camp in India, Killing 8

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      Rescuers working in extreme conditions evacuated 46 other construction workers trapped beneath feet of snow.Eight road construction workers died after becoming trapped under an avalanche in northern India, the Indian Army said on Sunday. Rescuers operating in several feet of snow evacuated 46 other workers.The workers were buried by the snow early on Friday in the village of Mana, in the state of Uttarakhand, as the avalanche hit their camp site.Disaster response teams coordinated the rescue efforts under extreme weather conditions, and the work was halted several times because of incessant snowfall and rain. GPS, sniffer dogs and thermal imaging cameras were used to find the workers.India’s Meteorological Department warned of the possibility of further avalanches in the area, which is known as a gateway for Himalayan mountain trekking.The rescued workers, many in critical condition, were taken by helicopters to hospitals in neighboring Joshimath. The workers belong to the Border Roads Organization, a division of the Indian armed forces that develops and maintains road networks in India’s border areas.Mana sits at an altitude of 3,200 meters, or more than 10,000 feet, and is about 15 miles from the Tibetan border. During the winter months, the village’s entire population migrates to lower elevations to escape the snowfall.Uttarakhand is prone to avalanches and floods. One of the country’s worst natural disasters took place there in 2013, when flooding killed more than 1,000 people. In 2021, 11 people died when an avalanche hit a Border Roads Organization camp in the district that includes Mana.As the Uttarakhand rescue efforts were completed, an operation to reach eight workers trapped in a tunnel in southern India were still underway, more than a week after the tunnel’s ceiling collapsed. Officials have said that the workers’ chances of survival are very remote. More

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      Colorado Snowboarder Becomes Fourth Avalanche Victim in a Week

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      The victim was traveling on a terrain feature known as The Nose near Silverton, Colo., when the avalanche occurred on Thursday, officials said.A backcountry snowboarder was killed in an avalanche on Thursday in a remote part of southwestern Colorado, the fourth person to die in a mountain slide this week in the western United States following several winter storms.The Colorado Avalanche Information Center said that the victim was traversing a terrain feature known as The Nose, near Silverton, Colo., when the person got caught in the avalanche.A skier who was with the snowboarder escaped the avalanche, the authorities said.Emergency responders used a helicopter to try to rescue the snowboarder, but the person did not survive, the center said. Rescuers were alerted about the avalanche by the staff from a nearby backcountry hut.The avalanche added to what has been a deadly week in the West.On Monday, two skiers were caught in an avalanche in the Cascade Mountains in Oregon, one that occurred at a height of 6,700 feet on a south-facing slope. Their bodies were recovered on Tuesday.Also on Monday, an avalanche claimed the life of a backcountry skier in California near Lake Tahoe.The Sierra Avalanche Center said that the skier was traveling alone when he triggered the avalanche, which carried him downslope over rocks and through trees. The victim was buried beneath more than four feet of snow against a tree, the center said. More

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      Arctic Air Could Bring Dangerous Temperatures to Parts of the U.S.

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      And a winter storm could dump up to a foot of snow from the Central Plains to the East Coast.A powerful surge of arctic air from Canada will descend on the Central and Eastern United States this week, delivering record-breaking cold and dangerously low wind chills, forecasters said.A disruptive winter storm is also forecast to bring snow and ice from the Central Plains to the East Coast.The National Weather Service warned that this “widespread extreme cold threat” would send temperatures plunging 30 degrees below average near the Canadian border for the next couple of mornings. Numerous daily temperature records were likely to be broken, with below-zero high temperatures from Montana and the Dakotas to the upper Midwest and sections of the Central Plains. Freezing conditions may reach even the Gulf Coast by Thursday morning.Extreme cold warnings and cold-weather advisories were issued for areas across the northern Plains and upper Midwest down to central Texas, potentially affecting millions of people. More

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      Wintry Mess Predicted Across Parts of the Northeast

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      Nearly a foot of snow could fall in Boston, and three to five inches of snow and sleet are expected in New York.A winter storm that has been working its way across the country is expected to bring a strong dose of winter weather to the northeastern United States on Saturday, with snow accumulations as high as seven inches expected across Boston and other cities.In New York, snow is expected to begin falling late Saturday afternoon before changing to a mix of rain, snow and sleet into the night. Three to five inches of snow and sleet are possible by Sunday, with even more in some parts of the metro area, according to the National Weather Service.Areas around Boston, where up to an inch of snow an hour may fall on Saturday night, are expected to see snow totals of between five and 11 inches before the storm moves off the East Coast on Sunday.In the Northeast, winter weather advisories and winter storm warnings were in effect until Sunday across New York, New Jersey and New England. Winter storm warnings on Saturday also stretched from Wisconsin through Minnesota and into the Dakotas.This is the second winter storm in a week to traverse the country, creating a dividing line of warmer rainy weather in the south and colder snowy weather to the north — and a messy wintry mix in between.Philadelphia, on the southern edge of this storm, is likely to see a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain as early as noon on Saturday, and icy roads will make driving treacherous, forecasters warned.How Much Snow To Expect More

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      Expect an Icy Commute for Parts of the Northeast on Monday Morning

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      Light snow and freezing rain are expected in parts of Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania starting Sunday night and could make for a hazardous commute on Monday, forecasters said.A light snowfall and some sleet that will begin on Sunday evening in parts of Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania are expected to make roads icy for Monday morning commuters.The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory, in effect until 10 a.m. Monday for parts of northeastern Pennsylvania and until 11 a.m. for parts of New Jersey, as well as the Lower Hudson Valley in New York.Parts of Connecticut are also expected to be affected, including northern areas of Fairfield, New Haven and northern Middlesex Counties.In northeastern Pennsylvania, forecasters predict up to four inches of snow and sleet, which will turn into a light glaze of ice accumulation Monday morning. Most parts of New York and New Jersey will get less than an inch of snow starting on Sunday evening, spreading eastward into southwestern Connecticut overnight.By late Sunday night, the snow is expected to transition to freezing rain, creating hazardous, icy conditions, particularly on untreated roads and in higher elevations. The morning commute on Monday could be especially dangerous, with icy roads posing significant challenges for drivers, forecasters said.Ice accumulations are forecast to range from a light glaze to a few hundredths of an inch across most areas, while western Orange County may get up to an inch of ice. Higher elevations in the Poconos of Pennsylvania will get the heaviest snow and ice accumulations on Sunday evening, potentially up to four inches.Mike Kistner, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Binghamton, N.Y., said the forecast for freezing rain and ice is what pushed the Lower Hudson Valley and parts of New Jersey to be under a winter weather advisory, though the snowfall should be light.While the cold air and below-freezing temperatures Monday morning will likely keep roads icy during the morning rush, Mr. Kistner said as it heats up later in the morning and throughout the day, conditions should clear. Bridges and overpasses may remain icy even if the main roads are wet, he added.Jennifer Givner, a spokeswoman for the New York State Thruway Authority, said workers were ready to clear the roads and have pretreated them for freezing rain, though she warned drivers to take it easy on Monday morning.“Give yourself some extra time in the morning,” Ms. Givner said. “And just slow down. I think that’s always the best way to travel in this weather.”Winter weather advisories were also issued for areas in western Maryland, western Virginia, and eastern West Virginia, which could get up to two inches of snow and sleet.The Weather Service warned about slippery roads in those areas. Those advisories were in place until 1 a.m. on Monday.In West Virginia, northwestern Pocahontas County and southeastern Randolph County were under winter storm warnings until 1 a.m. on Monday as strong winds, snow and ice moved in Sunday night. More

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      Millions in Northern U.S. Under Winter Storm Warnings

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      Temperatures are expected to plunge after another round of wet, messy, windy weather moves through the Mid-Atlantic, the Northeast and the Upper Midwest on Thursday.Millions of people across the Midwest, Northeastern United States and southern Ontario, Canada, were under winter weather warnings Thursday morning as snow squalls moved through ahead of another blast of Arctic temperatures.After a week of bitterly cold temperatures and days of lake-effect snow, another shot of cold air was sweeping through the Northeast after sending temperatures in parts of the Midwest plunging into the teens, 10 to 20 degrees below normal. Wind gusts up to 50 miles per hour are expected Thursday, bringing blizzard conditions to areas with lake-effect snow and making travel treacherous.Forecasters with the National Weather Service in New York City said that Thursday night into Friday would be the coldest night and early morning of the season, especially after accounting for wind chill.In New York, which experienced one of its warmest Halloweens ever this fall, some welcomed the return of more-seasonable temperatures. At an outdoor Christmas tree lot in Midtown Manhattan on Wednesday, Rosie Roop, 25, a hospitality and business student, was buying a wreath. “I’m happy it’s getting colder,” she said. “I just want it to snow.”Ms. Roop said she had worn her puffy coat for the first time this week. “I definitely like the four seasons,” she said. “I have not been a fan of the murky in-between.”The chilly weather inspired Danny Offermann, 28, an assistant principal at a charter school in the South Bronx, to visit a Christmas tree lot and buy a two-foot tree ($60) for his apartment.How Much Snow To Expect More

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      Lake-Effect Storm Bringing Heavy Snow to Great Lakes Region

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      Forecasters warned that some areas would be “paralyzed” by the snow as some sections of highways in New York and Pennsylvania were closed on Friday.A lake-effect storm in the Great Lakes region that was bringing heavy snow to parts of northern New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania on Friday prompted the closure of highways, disrupting travel after the Thanksgiving holiday, as forecasters warned the storm would “bury” some areas east of Lakes Erie and Ontario.The storm, which began earlier in the week, had already brought more than eight inches of snow to portions of Marquette County in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula by Friday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.Portions of Western New York, such as Mayville on the northern end of Chautauqua Lake about 22 miles north of Jamestown, had recorded 17 inches of snow by midafternoon on Friday, according to forecasters.Watertown, N.Y., where less than an inch of snow had fallen on Friday afternoon, was forecast to get close to six feet of snow over the next three days.Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York declared a state of emergency for 11 counties on Friday.“We are so accustomed to this kind of storm,” Ms. Hochul said in an interview with Spectrum News on Friday. “We don’t love it, but it is part of who we are as New Yorkers, especially western New York and the North Country.”The National Weather Service in Buffalo said the prolonged lake-effect snow “will bury some areas east of both Lakes Erie and Ontario.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More