– Mighty winter storm ‘Hercules’ heads to Northeast (USA Today, Jan 2, 2014):
A major winter storm could complicate the first post-New Year’s Day back to work and school for millions in New England and beyond.
The storm, predicted to affect the USA from the upper Midwest to the East Coast, is expected to bring the heaviest snow across southern New England on Thursday and early Friday.
“Over a foot of snow will fall in localized areas of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut and the cities of Hartford, Conn., Providence, R.I., and Boston,” predicted AccuWeather meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. Lesser amounts, in the 6- to 12-inch range, are likely in northeastern Pennsylvania, in New Jersey and in southeastern New York state.
This includes all of New York City, where the National Weather Service is warning that the storm’s strong winds will cause blowing and drifting snow later Thursday. In anticipation of the storm, the weather service placed the entire New York City area under a winter storm watch for Thursday and Friday. A winter storm watch means there is potential for significant snow accumulations that may affect travel.
The weather service on Wednesday warned that several inches are possible through early Friday along the Interstate 90 corridor from Chicago to Boston.
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