Meteorologists sound alarm as severe winter storm slams major US cities: 'People will be in the dark'

A historic blizzard pounding the Northeast on Monday has dumped nearly 2 feet of snow in spots and lashed the East Coast with hurricane-strength wind gusts. The National Weather Service continues to caution that, as the storm's center spins just offshore, the combination of strong winds and heavy snow will leave a growing number of people without power.

The nor'easter is impacting several large cities such as Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. "This is so dangerous now," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a storm briefing Sunday. "Because we're talking about a very densely populated area. So we're taking every precaution."

Hochul declared a state of emergency for 22 counties Sunday and announced the deployment of 100 members of the National Guard to assist with storm response operations. 

"This will be something the likes of which we've not seen in years," Hochul said, per CBS News. "People will be in the dark. Long Island and New York City and lower Hudson are literally in the direct eye of the storm."

By early Monday morning, over 18,000 homes and businesses had lost power in New York, according to PowerOutage.com. Almost 600,000 were without power across nine states in the Northeast. More than half of the country's power outages occurred in New Jersey and Massachusetts, the two hardest-hit states.

The worst impacts from the storm are being felt from Maryland to Maine. Blizzard warnings were in effect for more than 39 million people across portions of at least 10 states. By Monday morning, there were already reports of 2 feet of snow in southeastern Massachusetts.

"Travel could be very difficult to impossible," warned the Boston National Weather Service. "Areas of blowing snow could significantly reduce visibility. Travel should be restricted to emergencies only. If you must travel, have a winter survival kit with you."

Winds are another factor compounding the storm's effects. Some of the strongest wind gusts produced by the storm include 77 mph in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, 72 mph near North Kingstown, Rhode Island, and 71 mph in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. 

Even with advance notice of the storm and its forecast severity, utility crews are having a hard time keeping up with power outages as heavy snow weighs down power lines and winds topple tree limbs onto them. 

"Whiteout conditions and poor visibility are making travel to damage locations extremely difficult, delaying our crews' ability to safely respond," Massachusetts power company Eversource posted on the social platform X. "As the powerful winds continue to bring trees onto our power lines and across roads, we're focused on making our communities safe."

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The year is fairly young, but power outages from extreme weather have already captured headlines. In January, over 1 million people were left in the dark as a result of intense winter storms. Scientists have found that the 10 worst power outages have all occurred since 2020. Nearly every one of them was connected to extreme weather. 

"While news outlets readily report historical records being broken by these weather extremes, the underlying driver that systemically fuels these costly extremes — climate change — is rarely named in the news reports reviewed," Susan Moser wrote in a blog for the Union of Concerned Scientists. 

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