At least seven people have been killed in two brutal winter storms swirling over the country as 125million people from coast to coast brace for snow, freezing rain and flight cancellation and delays.
Winter storm alerts are active across 15 states as a blizzard swirls over the West Coast and another bears down on the East Coast, forecast to drop 10 to 20 inches of snow by Tuesday morning from Pennsylvania to Maine.
The wintry weather created a travel nightmare for millions trying to return home from the Thanksgiving holiday. As of Monday morning more than 200 flights within, into or out of the U.S. were cancelled and over 1,00 delayed. Many of the cancelled flights were at New York and Boston-area airports.
The storm system has been dubbed Winter Storm Ezekiel by the Weather Channel and will barrel through 30 states.
At least seven people have been killed in two brutal winter storms swirling over the country as 125million people from coast to coast brace for snow, freezing rain and flight cancellation and delays. People pictured clearing snow in Marlborough, Massachusetts on Monday morning
Boston and other coastal areas of Massachusetts will see as much as 6 inches of snow, and farther inland up to 11 inches, by Tuesday. Piles of snow pictured Monday morning after Sunday’s snowfall
A pedestrian walks through deep snow after an overnight snowfall, Monday in Marlborough, Massachusetts
Winter wonderland! A man in Pittsfield, Massachusetts cleans off his car Monday morning as a massive winter storm batters the East Coast, slowing down the morning commute, closing schools and offices and cancelling hundreds of flights
This satellite image by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration published Modnay morning shows the powerful nor’easter swirling over the upper Midwest and East Coast
The map above shows the forecast nationwide from Monday morning 7am EST through Tuesday morning 7am EST
The blizzards have already claimed seven lives in the U.S. and on in Canada.
Three people were killed in two separate water rescue incidence in a heavily flooded region of St. Louis on Saturday, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.
The victims were a five-year-old boy and an eight-year-old boy who drowned in Patton when the car they were in got swept off a flooded road in Patton, Missouri. The third victim was Todd Dean, a man from Louisiana, was killed when his vehicle was swept into the Whitewater River.
In Arizona cousins Colby and Austin Rawlings, both five, were found dead on Saturday. The children had been reported missing when the ‘military style’ truck they were in got swept into a creek in the Tonto Basin near Phoenix. In the truck were nine members of the same family. Four children and two adults were rescued by helicopter but the remaining children who stayed in the truck got swept away.
Crews are still searching for missing six-year-old girl Willa Rawlings, who was in that car with them. Authorities revealed Sunday they found a show believed to be Willa’s about 200 yards from where the truck got stuck in the creek.
In Utah a six-year-old boy named Herman Slaughter died on Friday after he fell and struck his head while riding a snowplow with his father. They were driving in Provo Canyon when the equipment suddenly lurched forward and the boy fell. The Utah County Sheriff’s Office says the father is not at fault in the incident.
In South Dakota a man was killed early Friday when the pickup truck he was in slipped on an ice-covered road near Cavour. The two other people in the truck were not seriously injured in the incident.
The storm also led to the death of a person in Ontario, Canada when the wintry weather led to dangerous road conditions and a 30 car pile-up on a busy highway.
The National Weather Service predicted more than a foot of snow in swaths of upstate New York and New England, as well as ice accumulations in parts of Pennsylvania. This weather map shows the impact of a major winter storm moving east on Sunday bringing heavy snowfall through Tuesday night. In the West, heavy snow, gusty winds and rain will hit California, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho
State police had responded to more than 550 storm-related crashes across New York by 7 p.m. Sunday and Cuomo placed National Guard personnel on standby. Icy roads caused numerous crashes on Interstate 84 in Pennsylvania on Sunday and a section of Interstate 81 north of Binghamton was closed because of icy conditions for a while
The National Weather Service forecasts New York will miss the brunt of the powerful nor’easter and will get 1 to 3 inches of snow through Monday night.
Inland areas appeared to be in for the worst of it, with the forecast in Albany, New York, predicting 6 to 14 inches.
State police had responded to more than 550 storm-related crashes across New York by 7pm on Sunday. Icy roads caused crashes on Interstate 84 in Pennsylvania, and ice closed part of Interstate 81 near Binghamton, New York, for a time.
Some New York schools announced closures Monday morning as Governor Andrew Cuomo advised nonessential state employees to stay home on Monday.
Conditions were so icy and dangerous a Delta connection flight slid off a taxiway at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport after an ‘uneventful landing’ on Sunday morning, according to NBC. Despite sliding off the sliding incident, none of the 72 passengers and crew were injured, the airline said.
The winter storms victims: Six-year-old Herman Slaughter (left) died in a freak accident on Friday. He was riding on a Kubota Skid Steer loader with his father Nathaniel (right with wife Sarah) at the Aspen Grove Family Camp in Provo Canyon when he fell off, hit his head on the plow’s bucket, and died from the critical injury
Five year old cousins Austin Rawlings (left) and Colby Rawlings (right), were found dead on Saturday in Arizona. The children had been reported missing when the ‘military style’ truck they were in with their family got swept into a creek in the Tonto Basin near Phoenix
Six-year-old Willa Rawlings (above) is still missing and a massive hunt is underway in Tonto Basix, Arizona
‘The weather and icing is an issue for the airfield,’ the airport’s fire chief Bill Major said. ‘It’s one of the bigger challenges they have, because it’s hard to keep up with.’
Boston and other coastal areas of Massachusetts will see as much as 6 inches of snow, and farther inland up to 11 inches, by Tuesday.
The Philadelphia area could get 5 inches, and a foot of snowfall anticipated in the southern Poconos and Northwest New Jersey.
Tractor-trailers were banned or lower speed limits put in place on stretches of interstate highways in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Some states already felt the impact of the storms with massive snowfall in northern California, Utah, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
In Duluth, Minnesota 20 inches of snow was reported Sunday morning.
In Massachusetts locals woke up to piles of snow that led to school closure and sluggish morning commutes.
‘We’ve got our shovels ready. We’ve got the snowblower ready. We’re prepared,’ Paul Newman, of Wethersfield, Connecticut, said.’
The wintry weather is creating chaos at airports across America. More than three million passengers had plans to fly with U.S. carriers on Sunday, returning home from the Thanksgiving holiday, according to American Airlines.
But snow, freezing rain and gusty winds led to over 900 flight cancellations within, into, or out of the U.S. and over 19,000 delays, according to Flight Aware.