Deadly storm switches from tornadoes to snow as it moves Northeast
By
Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer &
Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Feb 7, 2020 11:25 PM EDT
Snow created a travel nightmare for drivers on Feb. 7, as video shows a steep and slow climb up a hill in Millheim and backed up traffic in Philipsburg, PA.
The severe weather outbreak that left the southeastern portion of the United States in shambles worked its way up the East Coast with severe and wintry effects.
The storm drenched much of North Carolina and Virginia with heavy rain and localized flooding, coastal flood, and strong winds before storm warnings snaked their ways up the East Coast alongside Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and around the coast of New England.
Much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast found themselves under a wind advisory through Friday afternoon. According to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC), over 200 wind reports were submitted on Friday across the region. The strongest confirmed report was 80 mph at Truro, Massachusetts.
Northeastern residents were still experiencing the effects of the storm on Saturday morning with a 'major outage event' in the state of New York. More than 60,000 people were still without power on Saturday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.
Over 250,000 people were without power Friday afternoon across Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, according to Poweroutage.us.
In Delaware, a severe storm prompted a tornado warning at 9:39 a.m., EST. The heavy winds and pounding rain from the storm dealt swift damage to the New Castle County area, downing trees, and power lines. In Newark, at least one tree fell on a house and caused substantial damage.
"As a result of the severe storm this morning, the City of Newark deployed crews to survey damage in the area," the city said in a statement posted on Facebook. "A significant amount of rain fell in a short period of time, which resulted in flash flooding in some areas. Wind gusts may have caused additional damage. City crews are evaluating the situation and prioritizing work based on severity."
For about an hour Friday morning, the entire state of Delaware was under severe thunderstorm warnings, issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
Newark, Wilmington and Bear, Delaware, were issued a rare February tornado warning at 9:39 a.m. EST Friday, which would last until 10:15 a.m. EST. This was the first tornado warning issued by the Mount Holly office in the month of February since 1994.
Residents in Monrovia, Maryland, are cleaning up after a possible tornado tore through the area, tearing up trees and damaging homes. Images from social media accounts show the door of a car pierced through the fallen metal wall of a barn, planks of wood scattered about and what looks like a small wooded area nearly entirely uprooted.
A NWS Storm Survey confirmed that an EF0 tornado had hit the town of Leesburg, Virginia, on Friday morning with a maximum windspeed of 85 mph. An EF-1 tornado was confirmed to have hit Cecil County, Maryland, with a maximum wind speed up to 100 mph.
While surveys are still ongoing in some areas, so far at least 5 tornadoes were confirmed from Friday's thunderstorm activity.
The severe thunderstorm threat had ended by Friday afternoon, but gusty winds continued to whip across the region. These winds contributed to hundreds of flight delays at airports across the region, including more than 670 delays at New York's LaGuardia Airport along.
Ice clung to trees in Gardner, Massachusetts, after the storm hit the area. Branches began to crack and crash to the ground under the additional weight. (Twitter/@Zavo458)
As the storm trekked northward, the rain turned to snow across interior New England with some spots in the Northeast picking up over a foot of snow.
Vermont saw one of the highest snowfall totals of 23.5 inches in Warren, while Fort Kent, Maine received 21 inches of snow as of Saturday morning. Dickinson and Malone, New York saw upwards of 16 inches of snowfall.
The snow and freezing rain forced the closure of some businesses, schools, and government offices across Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
A city plow helps keep city streets clear of snow on Friday, Feb. 7, 2020, in Montpelier, Vermont. (AP Photo/Wilson Ring)
The rapid intensification of the storm caused records to fall as the center of the storm tracked over land from Pennsylvania to Maine.
On Friday morning, as the center of the storm tracked over eastern Pennsylvania, several cities experienced the lowest pressure since Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
This satellite image shows the storm as it trekked through the northeast Friday afternoon.
The pressure in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, bottomed out at 28.85 inches of Mercury (976.97 mb) on Friday morning, not quite as low as it did during Sandy, when the city plummeted to 28.35 inches of mercury (960.04 mb). To the northeast, the pressure in Allentown, Pennsylvania, dropped to 28.87 inches of mercury (977.65 mb) on Friday, compared to 28.50 Inches of mercury (965.12 mb) during Sandy.
The pressure falls were so intense that by the afternoon, it had officially become a bomb cyclone. At Bradley International Airport, located north of Hartford, Connecticut, the pressure crashed 0.71 inches of mercury (24 mb) in just 10 hours. To be considered a bomb cyclone, the pressure in the storm needs to drop this much over 24 hours.
The drop in pressure also led to the second lowest pressure record at Bradley International Airport during the month of February at 28.70 inches of mercury (970.2 mb). The lowest pressure was 28.63 inches of mercury (969.5 mb). This new record was also the lowest pressure measured at the station since March 1993.
This storm is expected to continue northward into Atlantic Canada through Saturday.
Additional reporting by Brian Lada and Chaffin Mitchell.
Report a Typo
News / Severe Weather
Deadly storm switches from tornadoes to snow as it moves Northeast
By Mark Puleo, AccuWeather staff writer & Adriana Navarro, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Feb 7, 2020 11:25 PM EDT
Snow created a travel nightmare for drivers on Feb. 7, as video shows a steep and slow climb up a hill in Millheim and backed up traffic in Philipsburg, PA.
The severe weather outbreak that left the southeastern portion of the United States in shambles worked its way up the East Coast with severe and wintry effects.
The storm drenched much of North Carolina and Virginia with heavy rain and localized flooding, coastal flood, and strong winds before storm warnings snaked their ways up the East Coast alongside Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and around the coast of New England.
Much of the mid-Atlantic and Northeast found themselves under a wind advisory through Friday afternoon. According to the Storm Prediction Center (SPC), over 200 wind reports were submitted on Friday across the region. The strongest confirmed report was 80 mph at Truro, Massachusetts.
Northeastern residents were still experiencing the effects of the storm on Saturday morning with a 'major outage event' in the state of New York. More than 60,000 people were still without power on Saturday morning, according to PowerOutage.us.
Over 250,000 people were without power Friday afternoon across Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts, according to Poweroutage.us.
In Delaware, a severe storm prompted a tornado warning at 9:39 a.m., EST. The heavy winds and pounding rain from the storm dealt swift damage to the New Castle County area, downing trees, and power lines. In Newark, at least one tree fell on a house and caused substantial damage.
"As a result of the severe storm this morning, the City of Newark deployed crews to survey damage in the area," the city said in a statement posted on Facebook. "A significant amount of rain fell in a short period of time, which resulted in flash flooding in some areas. Wind gusts may have caused additional damage. City crews are evaluating the situation and prioritizing work based on severity."
For about an hour Friday morning, the entire state of Delaware was under severe thunderstorm warnings, issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Mount Holly, New Jersey.
Newark, Wilmington and Bear, Delaware, were issued a rare February tornado warning at 9:39 a.m. EST Friday, which would last until 10:15 a.m. EST. This was the first tornado warning issued by the Mount Holly office in the month of February since 1994.
Residents in Monrovia, Maryland, are cleaning up after a possible tornado tore through the area, tearing up trees and damaging homes. Images from social media accounts show the door of a car pierced through the fallen metal wall of a barn, planks of wood scattered about and what looks like a small wooded area nearly entirely uprooted.
A NWS Storm Survey confirmed that an EF0 tornado had hit the town of Leesburg, Virginia, on Friday morning with a maximum windspeed of 85 mph. An EF-1 tornado was confirmed to have hit Cecil County, Maryland, with a maximum wind speed up to 100 mph.
While surveys are still ongoing in some areas, so far at least 5 tornadoes were confirmed from Friday's thunderstorm activity.
The severe thunderstorm threat had ended by Friday afternoon, but gusty winds continued to whip across the region. These winds contributed to hundreds of flight delays at airports across the region, including more than 670 delays at New York's LaGuardia Airport along.
Ice clung to trees in Gardner, Massachusetts, after the storm hit the area. Branches began to crack and crash to the ground under the additional weight. (Twitter/@Zavo458)
As the storm trekked northward, the rain turned to snow across interior New England with some spots in the Northeast picking up over a foot of snow.
Vermont saw one of the highest snowfall totals of 23.5 inches in Warren, while Fort Kent, Maine received 21 inches of snow as of Saturday morning. Dickinson and Malone, New York saw upwards of 16 inches of snowfall.
The snow and freezing rain forced the closure of some businesses, schools, and government offices across Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
A city plow helps keep city streets clear of snow on Friday, Feb. 7, 2020, in Montpelier, Vermont. (AP Photo/Wilson Ring)
The rapid intensification of the storm caused records to fall as the center of the storm tracked over land from Pennsylvania to Maine.
On Friday morning, as the center of the storm tracked over eastern Pennsylvania, several cities experienced the lowest pressure since Superstorm Sandy in 2012.
This satellite image shows the storm as it trekked through the northeast Friday afternoon.
The pressure in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, bottomed out at 28.85 inches of Mercury (976.97 mb) on Friday morning, not quite as low as it did during Sandy, when the city plummeted to 28.35 inches of mercury (960.04 mb). To the northeast, the pressure in Allentown, Pennsylvania, dropped to 28.87 inches of mercury (977.65 mb) on Friday, compared to 28.50 Inches of mercury (965.12 mb) during Sandy.
Related:
The pressure falls were so intense that by the afternoon, it had officially become a bomb cyclone. At Bradley International Airport, located north of Hartford, Connecticut, the pressure crashed 0.71 inches of mercury (24 mb) in just 10 hours. To be considered a bomb cyclone, the pressure in the storm needs to drop this much over 24 hours.
The drop in pressure also led to the second lowest pressure record at Bradley International Airport during the month of February at 28.70 inches of mercury (970.2 mb). The lowest pressure was 28.63 inches of mercury (969.5 mb). This new record was also the lowest pressure measured at the station since March 1993.
This storm is expected to continue northward into Atlantic Canada through Saturday.
Additional reporting by Brian Lada and Chaffin Mitchell.
Report a Typo