New York – The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for heavy snow for New York City and Long Island.
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The advisory is in effect until 7 p.m. Thursday. Weather officials predict snow accumulations of between 4 and 7 inches by the time it ends. The heaviest snow will fall early Thursday morning.
Less snow is predicted for southern Westchester County. A winter weather advisory is in effect there during the same period. Between 2 and 5 inches of snow is expected.
Some flights were canceled or delayed at the area’s three major airports.
Some schools in Westchester and on Long Island were closed for the day.
Temperatures in the 20s on Thursday were expected to plummet to single digits by Friday morning.
Much of the South was forecast to see temperatures drop 30 to 45 degrees in a 24-hour period thanks to yet another arctic cold front.
Some locations may see their coldest temperatures ever recorded so late in the season, including Nashville and Louisville, Kentucky, where temperatures could drop into the single digits. On Thursday morning, parts of Kentucky saw more than 20 inches of snowfall overnight – and it was still coming down.
Farther north, Maryland, New Jersey and other states also had snow. In the nation’s capital, nonemergency federal workers were told to stay home. Some state offices and legislatures also closed in the South and Northeast.
Here’s a look at what’s happening:
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LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL?
Mike Halpert, deputy director of the National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center, said the storm “might be winter’s last hurrah.” Alex Sosnowski of AccuWeather said the storm could be winter’s “caboose.”
After the storm and possibly some cold days into the weekend, the next couple of weeks should be considerably warmer for a large chunk of the country, Halpert said.
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IS HIGHER FARE FAIR?
With the nation’s capital about to be under a snow emergency, cab rides are about to become more expensive.
The D.C. Taxicab Commission said snow emergency fares would be in effect from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday. That means cabs can add a $15 surcharge to the metered fare. It’s meant to entice drivers to keep working.
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UNIMPRESSED NEW YORKER
Sean Maxwell, 28, of Arlington, Virginia, filled up his car before heading to Rochester, New York, with his fiancé for a weekend trip.
Maxwell, who works for a youth soccer club, said the expected snow hadn’t altered his plans.
“I’m from New York, so this is nothing,” he said.
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FINISHING A SHOVELING JOB
First responders in Connecticut who tried to save a man’s life when he collapsed while shoveling snow off his roof returned to finish the work after he died.
Fire Chief David Billings identified the man as Miroslaw Dabrowski. The 57-year-old Dabrowski suffered a heart attack.
The emergency call came in at 9:45 a.m. Tuesday. Police officer Bernie Hallums said he and other officers climbed to the roof and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation. He was declared dead at a hospital.
Later that morning, Hallums and other officers and firefighters returned to finish removing snow from the roof.
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CONGRESS FLEES FLURRIES
The weather forecast got Congress going and produced rare bipartisan agreements in the House and Senate to finish business early and get out of town.
Senate leaders set the last vote of the week for 2:30 p.m. Wednesday. But that wasn’t good enough for Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma.
“Is there any way you could change that to 2:20 from 2:30?” Inhofe asked on the Senate floor. “There are four people who can’t make planes, otherwise.”
He was accommodated.
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OYSTER CAGES ON THE LOOSE
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation wants fishermen, boaters and coastal residents to be on the lookout for what may seem like strange items amid the winter storm: missing oyster cages.
High winds, ice and snow caused about 175 cages to break loose and drift into the bay, foundation spokesman Chuck Epes told The Daily Press (http://bit.ly/1KqkrzU ). At least 70 cages have been found.
Epes says the cages are used by Tangier Island, Virginia, watermen to grow oysters. They are about 3 feet long, 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep and are fixed to black plastic floats.
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FUN BEFORE THE STORM
Claire Greer was out enjoying a last few hours of warmth Wednesday in Starkville, Mississippi, even as cold air, winds and icy precipitation plunged into parts of the state to her north and west.
Greer watched Mississippi State University’s softball team play Georgia’s Kennesaw State University, dreading winter’s return.
“I’m ready for spring,” the Starkville retiree said. “That’s another reason I came out here to watch the girls play, before it gets cold.”
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BEWARE OF PRICE GOUGING
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey says the state’s price gouging laws are now in place.
The anti-gouging law kicks in when the governor declares a state of emergency or state or preparedness. Gov. Earl Ray Tomlin declared a state of emergency Thursday and mobilized state resources as a winter storm threatened to dump up to a foot of snow on the state.
The state’s anti-gouging laws prohibit any person, business or contractor from inflating the price of a consumer item by more than 10 percent of what it sold for 10 days before the declaration.
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TWO MORE INCHES, PLEASE!
Some Bostonians were clamoring for a little more snow to break a record.
This winter, the city has received 105.5 inches of snow – more than 8 1/2 feet, the National Weather Service said. The record is 107.6 inches recorded during the 1995-96 season. Records date to 1872.
Having endured weeks of misery, residents such as Erin O’Brien insist they deserve bragging rights – otherwise, what was the point of repeatedly digging out?
“I want the record. We earned the record,” said O’Brien, a professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts-Boston.
Others don’t care about the record. Amy Ouellette, a marketing associate in Salem, north of Boston, just wants spring to melt it all away.