How ‘strongest snow storm in a decade’ has paralysed US East Coast – Firstpost

The Northeastern United States is currently in the grip of a deadly snowstorm that has forced millions of people to stay indoors. The storm has buried cities under sheets of snow.

According to meteorologists this is the strongest storm in a decade,
dumping more than two feet (60 centimetres) of snow in the region. This has brought large parts of the US to a standstill with roads blocked, flights cancelled, and no electricity in some places.

So far, six states, including New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island, have
declared a state of emergency as blizzard weather pummels the United States.

Let’s take a look at the situation.

How has the snow storm affected the US?

The
snowstorm has lodged more than 30 inches of snow across parts of the Northeast, with a record 19.7 inches in New York City’s Central Park on Monday. In Lower Manhattan, snow shovellers appeared to outnumber commuting office workers, and pedestrians walked freely in streets normally blocked by morning traffic.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared a state of emergency in New York City, bringing traffic to a halt across streets, highways, and bridges from 9 pm on Sunday (7:30 am IST) to noon on Monday (10:30 pm IST), with only essential and emergency vehicles allowed.

Alongside broader measures, the mayor deployed 22 warming buses across the five boroughs and mobilised outreach teams to work around the clock to guide homeless New Yorkers to shelter. A Code Blue has been declared in the city, which is activated only when temperatures drop below freezing levels.

In New Jersey, Governor Mikie Sherrill said on Sunday that the late-February storm could be the worst the state has experienced since the Blizzard of 1996, when blizzard warnings were issued across all 21 counties.

The massive snowstorm has caused travel disruption within and across the city as well as the country. According to FlightAware, more than 5,700 flights across the US network were cancelled on Monday, with roughly 3,800 others running behind schedule. Roughly a dozen airports were still shut late Monday, among them Atlantic City International and Martha’s Vineyard, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Subway service was largely back on track Monday evening after earlier delays, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said, except in Staten Island, where trains were still not running. Lines that operate outdoors could continue to see disruptions.

At the height of the storm on Monday afternoon, over
600,000 East Coast customers were without power, data from PowerOutage.us showed. By night, that number had fallen to about 449,600.

What is a bomb cyclone?

Many weather experts note that the situation is the result of a
bomb cyclone that has the Northeastern US in its grip.

A bomb cyclone is a rapidly strengthening storm that forms between the tropics and the polar regions, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It usually develops when cold and warm air masses collide, something that often happens over ocean waters.

The main test for a bomb cyclone is a rapid pressure drop, though measuring it can be complex. According to the National Weather Service, which tracks pressure in millibars, a fall of 24 millibars or more within 24 hours meets the criteria, said Stephen Baron of Gray, Maine.

Such rapidly strengthening storms are capable of producing heavy rain, blizzard conditions, and intense winds that can create dangerous conditions such as downed trees and power outages. Bomb cyclones can happen in any season, but mainly occur during fall and winter when frigid air from the Arctic can creep south and clash with warmer air masses.

Is climate change the reason?

Many scientists and climate experts have time and again warned against the ill effects of the warming of the planet. It has been stated that a warming planet may produce fewer winter storms, but the ones that do occur will be more intense.

Climate change is increasingly being associated with disruptions to the polar vortex, a ring of cold air that usually stays over the Arctic. When it weakens, it can push Arctic air and severe storms into heavily populated areas.

The storm hit just as the region was recovering from another massive snowstorm from a few weeks earlier, which led to more than 100 blizzard-related deaths. According to the National Weather Service, another storm is likely to bring more snow to the Northeast later this week.

With inputs from agencies