Winter Storm Toby claimed its first fatality on Wednesday after a Long Island woman was killed in a crash that left five others injured.
New York State police said slick roads were a factor in the fatal crash on Long Island, that killed Xiu Rong Yong, 51, of Flushing, along the Wantagh State Parkway in Nassau County.
Yong was a passenger in the Nissan van that skidded off the road and hit the concrete foundation of a metal sign shortly after 10am. The woman was thrown from the white van and the survivors were hospitalized.
Another passenger, Ning Zhao, 37, also of Flushing, received serious injuries and the other passengers, Zehua Lin, 39, and Yin Hua Guo, 40, suffered minor injuries. The driver, Xiao Ping Lu, 37, also suffered minor injuries.
Winter Storm Toby became the fourth nor’easter in three weeks to push its way up the winter-weary East Coast, packing high winds and heavy snow from West Virginia to New England.
Airlines cancelled nearly 2,500 flights, with no planes departing or arriving at La Guardia after noon. The John F Kennedy and Newark airports were also affected.
Winter Storm Toby claimed its first fatality on Wednesday after a Long Island woman was killed in a crash that left five others injured
Airlines cancelled nearly 2,500 flights, with no planes departing or arriving at La Guardia after noon. The John F Kennedy and Newark airports were also affected. Pictured is a Delta Air Lines plane at JFK
High surf hits the coastline near some homes on March 21, 2018 in Scituate, Massachusetts
Bobby Reynolds carries his surfboard after surfing at Rockaway Beach during a snow storm on Wednesday
Reynolds took off his wet suit at one point to make a snow angel in the snow covered sand
School districts throughout the Northeast cancelled classes ahead of the storm. Officials said schools would reopen Thursday morning.
Shore towns were also warned of the possibility of coastal flooding.
The snow started falling Tuesday night in West Virginia and Kentucky and continued through Wednesday morning, while mid-Atlantic states saw a wintry mix before the precipitation changed to sticking snow.
A winter storm watch remained in effect until 6am Thursday.
The powerful storm brought wind gusts of up to 40mph and threatened to dump 18 inches of snow on New York City by Wednesday night.
Tourists visit the Lincoln Memorial during a snow storm in Washington, DC, on Wednesday
Maiya Ashby crosses Patton Avenue while walking through falling snow on her way to work in Roanoke, Virginia on Wednesday
A car makes its way through falling snow down Grandview Avenue NW in Roanoke, Virginia Wednesday morning
Snow falls on a lone bicycle and cherry blossom trees at the tidal basin in Washington, DC on Wednesday
Nikki Scott, of Franklin County, brushes snow off her car in Roanoke, Virginia on Wednesday
Workers clean steps at Times Square in New York on Wednesday during a nor’easter
An East River Ferry boat makes its way under the Brooklyn Bridge during a nor’easter on Wednesday. Many ferries were operating on a modified service today
The Washington Monument is seen in the background as a worker clears snow from a sidewalk at the National Museum of African American History and Culture during a Spring snowstorm in Washington, DC on Wednesday
First Lady Melania Trump tweeted a pictured of a snow-covered White House on Wednesday (the first lady pictured on the right on Tuesday)
New Jersey Transit buses stopped running around 3pm and there was reduced service on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North.
New York Gov Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for New York City and its suburbs.
The declaration issued Wednesday by the Democratic governor allowed the state to cut red tape and make decisions that affected local governments uniformly.
Cuomo said 5,500 utility workers and 300 National Guard members were ready. The state also has sent generators, light towers, plows, salt and other equipment and supplies downstate.
‘We’re experiencing storms that we have never experienced before,’ said Cuomo said. ‘That is true. There’s a higher frequency and more severity to the storms.’
On the ground, Amtrak scaled back service on the Northeast corridor and some states banned certain types of trucks from major highways.
Justin Timberlake’s Wednesday night concert in New York City was postponed because of the weather.
The pop star posted a video of himself in the snow on Instagram.
Timberlake said his Thursday night show at Madison Square Garden will still go on. Wednesday’s concert will be rescheduled.
In Frederick County, Maryland, a school bus slid off the road and into a creek.
Luckily, there were no children on the bus at the time and the driver was not injured.
Forecasters have noted that the storm has sharp gradients that could cause several inches to fall in some spots, while nearby areas could see much less accumulation.
Winter-whipped residents said they were ready for the latest storm, though many hoped it would be the last and give way to spring.
A fourth nor’easter in a month threatened to dump up to a foot of snow from West Virginia to Massachusetts on Wednesday
A winter storm watch remained in effect until 6am Thursday
By Thursday afternoon, New Yorkers will see a high of 45 degrees in the city
Weather experts warned of coastal flooding in New Jersey, parts of New York and Boston
Winter alerts remained in place for parts of New York, Boston and Maine
A Pennsylvania police department has gotten some attention for their humorous snow day traffic reports
‘I didn’t think I’d still need to keep storm stuff in my car in late March, but what are you going to do?’ Wilson Collins said as he prepared to leave his Toms River, New Jersey, home on Wednesday morning, checking his trunk to make sure he had a shovel, a blanket and other emergency items.
‘I’m hoping most of the snow will accumulate just on the grass, but the roads will be a mess no matter what. I just hope this is finally it.’
The bulk of the snow and sleet was expected to pound New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and parts of eastern Pennsylvania on Wednesday before heading toward Cape Cod early Thursday.
The snow turned into a heavy, wet snow in the evening that stuck to trees and weighed down powerlines – causing widespread power outages.
National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Peterson said the latest storm was a tough to call.
‘It’s definitely a tricky forecast,’ Petersen said. ‘We’re still expecting heavy snows throughout the region, but there could be lower numbers in some coastal areas where warmer temperatures are causing rain or more of a wintry mix.’
New Jersey and Delaware were predicted to see minor to moderate flooding in the late evening, at high tide.
The New England coast is expected to get some minor flooding, but the risk will be highest in the early morning on Thursday.
The flight-tracking site FlightAware reported more than 4,400 canceled flights across the US on Wednesday, with 2,500 alone out of New York City.
The executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said air travel in the New York City area will be ‘severely, severely affected by this storm’.
Dane Lariscy, 5, left, works on a snowman as his siblings, Amanda Lariscy, 17, center, and Blaze Lariscy, 15, right, laugh while having a snowball fight on the National Mall during the Ochlockonee, Florida family’s first snowfall on Wednesday
A person runs through snow and high winds along the Schuylkill River on Wednesday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
A worker uses a backhoe to clear snow from an intersection Wednesday, March 21, 2018, east of Winchester, Virginia
Emily Atkins and her daughter Natalie Atkins, 5, of Roanoke, look out over Carvins Cove Reservoir during a snowstorm on Wednesday
People pass the New York Stock Exchange in the snow on Wednesday in New York City
A mail carrier walks through the snow on March 21, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City
The ‘Fearless Girl’ and ‘Charging Bull’ sculptures, in New York’s Financial District, are covered with snow, on Wednesday
Bicyclists are seen riding through traffic in the snow during a late season snowstorm in New York City on Wednesday
A man crosses the street in a snow storm on March 21, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City
A car drives through the snow on March 21, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City
Just after 2pm, New York City’s LaGuardia Airport announced that all the remaining flights had been cancelled for the day and told flyers to contact their airlines about rebooking.
The city’s two other local airports – JFK and Newark – remained opened, but many of the flights in an out of the airport had been cancelled and they too were telling flyers to check with their airlines about travel plans.
At Newark, 81 per cent of their scheduled flights were cancelled, the airport said, as their ground team strggled to keep the air strips clear.
At New York’s Port Authority bus terminal, the head of the Port Authority said ‘virtually all of the long distance carriers’ have canceled service.
In Philadelphia, where wind-whipped snow fell on Tuesday, restaurant server Katy Halbeisen called the early-spring storm ‘pretty lame’.
‘Yesterday I was walking around and saw little birds taking a bath and it looked like they were thinking it would be spring. So I feel bad for those little birds,’ she said.
A NOAA satellite image shows the storm on Wednesday evening
Frederick County, Virginia, Sheriff’s Lt. Warren Gosnell cleans snow from a cruiser Wednesday, while working at the scene of a single car crash
Becky Rhodes walks her dog, Scout, through the snow near her home in Roanoke, Virginia on Wednesday
Daffodils droop over from the weight of the snow in front of Our Lady of the Valley in Roanoke, Virginia on Wednesday
Justin Hobbs, left, and Buddy Hinkle, center, clear snow from the sidewalks surrounding Our Lady of the Valley in Roanoke, Virginia on Wednesday
A school group tours the Martin Luther King Jr., Memorial as the snow falls on cherry blossom trees on Wednesday
A woman walks with an umbrella during a nor’easter at the Brooklyn Bridge Park in Brooklyn, New York, on Wednesday
A woman approaches the Hoboken Terminal of the PATH train system as light snow falls on Wednesday in Hoboken, New Jersey
A jogger runs on a path near the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as snow falls in Washington, DC, on Wednesday
Snow and ice forms on a cherry blossom tree in Centreville, Maryland, on Wednesday
Snow coats a magnolia blossom near the tidal basin, Wednesday, March 21, 2018, in Washington, during a snow storm on the second day of spring
A worker operates snow removal equipment on a sidewalk in Washington, DC Wednesday morning
Tourists walk along the Reflecting Pool near the Lincoln Memorial during a snow storm in Washington, DC, on Wednesday
Tourists have a snowball fight near the Lincoln Memorial during a snow storm in Washington, DC, on Wednesday
Tourists visit the US Capitol during a snow storm in Washington, DC, on Wednesday
A man is coated with snow as he walks after taking a few pictures of the White House in Washington, DC on Wednesday
Above, another view of the White House during the winter storm on Wednesday
Television news cameras stand ready even as a steady snow falls on the entrance to the West Wing at the White House in Washington, DC on Wednesday
A commuter waits to catch a subway train during a late season snow storm in New York City on Wednesday
Dog walker Emily DiFiglia said she was done with winter.
‘I’m outside all day long. So having the weather constantly fluctuating has driven me a little mad,’ she said on Philadelphia’s South Street. ‘Mother Nature, let’s get some warm weather!
For some areas that have mostly dodged snowfall this winter, the latest nor’easter was their first major storm.
Sarah Schottler, who runs Blakeley Street Bakery in West Virginia’s Eastern Panhandle community of Charles Town, said a vendor show in Maryland where she was supposed to promote her products was cancelled by the storm.
But that freed her up to get some Easter cookie orders filled at her shop.
Her two children got a day off from school Wednesday after about eight inches of snow fell.
Schottler said she feels a lot of people were OK with the storm after they spent all winter wondering if any snow would fall. She said: ‘You know it’s the last one. So it’s like the light at the end of the tunnel.’
People go sledding in heavy snowfall on March 21, 2018 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
A jogger trots under driving snow at Pier A Park during a snowstorm on Wednesday in Hoboken, New Jersey
A worker clears snow past ‘The Last Three,’ the world’s largest rhino sculpture by artists Gillie and Marc Art at Astor Place during a late season snowstorm in New York City on Wednesday
Hazleton Patrolman Walt Mazur places a ticket on the snow covered windshield of a vehicle whose driver violated the snow emergency parking ban and parked on the wrong side of North Wyoming Street in Hazleton, Pennsylvania on Wednesday
A pedestrian crosses the street as snow falls in downtown Washington, DC, on Wednesday
Many in the region are still dealing with power issues after the three previous nor’easters
As of Wednesday evening, more than 4,400 flights had already been cancelled for the day, mostly out of New York City-area airports
Appalachia, Long Island, Cape Cod and the islands of Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket will have some of the most extreme weather
Meanwhile, a New Jersey law enforcement agency has rescinded its tongue-in-cheek prohibition against schoolchildren doing numerous activities that kids believe will make it snow more (and thus cancel school).
The Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office issued the ‘ban’ on Tuesday in a social media post.
But office spokesman Al Della Fave rescinded it Wednesday following an online backlash from children (including his own).
Della Fave also posed for a photo on his Facebook page wearing a pair of his undershorts on his head (which he noted is the ‘most effective snow-making ritual’) as penance for the ‘misguided mandate’.
Four-day weather forecast:
