US East Coast braces for major winter storm

Traffic slows while entering the New York state Thruway as lake effect snow bands again set up on Dec.14 in Buffalo, New York. AFP photo

The U.S. East Coast braced for a major winter storm Sunday, just as millions of Americans prepared to travel back home after visiting friends and families for Christmas celebrations.

The National Weather Service, NWS, issued winter storm warnings and storm watches across a 1,000-mile (1,600-kilometer) stretch of the U.S. east coast, from Georgia up to Vermont.

Heavy snow is forecast for the New York and Boston areas, continuing into Sunday night, with overnight temperatures in the 20s Fahrenheit (minus seven Celsius) and wind gusting up to 30 miles (48 kilometers) an hour.

Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina have declared states of emergency.

"We know many people are traveling for the holidays and we want everyone to be extremely cautious," North Carolina Emergency Management Director Doug Hoell told a local television station. "Anyone who is thinking of driving during the next few days, should pay careful attention to the weather and traffic forecasts before heading out."

Washington was facing the prospect of up to 10 inches (25 centimeters) of snow Sunday.

At the airports in the national capital's regions, snow crews were standing by.

"We're just watching the forecast like everyone else," Courtney Mickalonis, a spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, told The Washington Post. "We won't know until the snow starts what we're dealing with."

While the U.S. capital region's schools are closed for the winter break between Christmas and New Year, a storm of that magnitude would heap misery on Monday morning commuters.

"Significant amounts of snow are expected" in the Washington area, and "this will make travel very hazardous or impossible," NWS said in an advisory.

Ice and snow has already snarled road traffic in several southeastern states, including Georgia's northern mountains where six inches were reported Saturday.

Flight cancellations

Asheville, North Carolina saw seven inches of snow, and the state's department of transportation reported interstate highways partially covered with snow and ice.

Delta Air Lines Inc. said Saturday that it has cancelled 500 flights nationally because of the storm, according to media reports.

The cancellations included 300 of the 800 flights from Delta's hub in Atlanta, which has been hit hard by the storm, the reports said.

Continental and United Airlines followed suit, canceling dozens of Sunday departures from Newark, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and other airports.

AirTran and Southwest Airlines cancelled flights, mostly in or out of Washington's Dulles Airport, Baltimore and Newark.

"At this point we're still looking at the weather, and we are advising customers that there will be more cancellations [on Sunday and Monday] if the weather moves north," Delta spokesman Kent Landers told Agence France-Presse.

Flights from Midwestern cities have been delayed or cancelled because of the weather, according to the reports.

Meanwhile, Americans in the deep south were treated to a very rare white Christmas Saturday, and several hundred flights were cancelled amid foul weather that could see much of the U.S. east coast snowbound by Boxing Day.

Light to moderate snow blanketed communities in the southern Gulf states of Alabama and Mississippi, meteorologists said, while Atlanta, Georgia reportedly enjoyed its first snowy Christmas in 128 years.

Snowfalls were expected to break records in the normally mild south, where residents including thrilled youngsters were surprised by the winter weather.