iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK ) — Nearly 3,000 U.S. flights have been canceled Thursday as a powerful storm hits the Northeast, packing heavy snow, gusty winds and the coldest air of the season.
“A powerful Nor’easter will move north along the east coast through Thursday,” the National Weather Service said in a statement. “Reinforcing arctic air and gusty winds will sweep in behind the Nor’easter for the coldest wind chills of the season in many eastern locations.”
Airlines canceled more than 2,850 flights in and out of the United States Wednesday and delayed about 150 others, according to airline tracking firm FlightAware. Most of the cancellations were in New Jersey, Boston and New York, where some areas could get 1 to 3 inches of snow per hour starting this morning.
Major cities along the East Coast — from North Carolina to Maine — were under blizzard warnings, while others were placed under winter storm warnings.
The storm has already brought record snowfall to cities like Tallahassee, Florida, where residents got the most snow since 2010, and Charleston, South Carolina, which received more than 5 inches of snow, breaking a record that had stood since 1989.
Meanwhile, some areas between Georgia and Virginia were blanketed with up to a half a foot a snow by Thursday morning.
“This will be a rapidly strengthening storm that is expected to produce strong winds and minor to moderate coastal flooding,” the National Weather Service said Wednesday, after warning that the storm could result in downed trees and power outages along the East Coast.
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