Powerful storm bears down on East Coast

[undeterred]

Source: Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A powerful winter storm closed in on the U.S. mid-Atlantic on Friday, threatening record snowfalls and unseasonably cold temperatures in a region heavily dependent on home heating oil and natural gas supplies.

Forecasts calling for around 2 feet of snow and near-blizzard conditions from Virginia to southern New Jersey prompted U.S. government offices in the Washington area to close their doors four hours early.Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia each declared snow emergencies. The declarations allow states to activate emergency agencies including the National Guard to help prepare for the wintry onslaught and cope with its aftermath.

The giant storm system was expected to engulf the cities of Baltimore, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia in a heavy blanket of snow as well, while bringing heavy rain to sections of the southeast including the Carolinas and Georgia.

The cold helped boost New York's spot natural gas market to toward winter season highs in New York, where prices reached about $11.50 per million British thermal units on average, up more than $4 from Thursday. Spot gas for Chicago rose 10 cents to above $5.70. Meanwhile, heating oil was little changed.



Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6144K120100205

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:scared:

[elleng]

1. We're following it!

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/02/snow_underway_some_could_see_2.html#comments

[bottomofthehill]

2. Oh My God, its the Snow-Pocalypse

check the rapture index

[FSogol]

3. The media here sure stirred up a panic. Half the people in my office

didn't come in today and it didn't even start snowing until 11 am. The stores were wiped clean. Laughable.

[zeemike]

19. Disaster capitalism?

On the retail level?

[LiberalEsto]

4. It's just starting to stick in Gaithersburg, MD

It's 2:45 pm and it's been snowing for over 3 hours, but the snow was melting until a little while ago.
The forecast calls for up to 28 inches before ending tomorrow night. This will be hard on our two little dogs, especially Bailey, who is half chihuahua.

The supermarkets have been madhouses for the past two days, with people stocking up for the Super Bowl and a snowbound weekend. A grocery cashier told me they did more business yesterday than in the entire previous week.

Now would be a nice time to be visiting one of my friends in Miami.

:scared: :scared: :scared:

[undeterred]

5. That's a lot of snow.

We had a day like that here in Wisconsin in December. Gotta get out there and shovel during the storm... once its piled up its really hard to move it all. I have a larger dog and he thinks its great.

[swilton]

14. Hi from Silver Spring -

After the blizzard of Dec 21, '09, I trained my two little dogs to go in the path I dug for them in the yard - I just hope we can use it tonight and tomorrow....One of my dogs is a 8 lb. Chihuahua mix that I rescued; the other is an aging pug. I know this is going to be a challenge for all of us! :hi:

Yes - we went to the co-op last night - all the bread and meat had been evacuated....nada...people are still making runs on the storm here at 4:30 p.m.

Even though the snow didn't start sticking until around 3:00 p.m. - at 1:00 p.m. someone had run off the road trying to get onto the beltway.... I'm just going to spend the time making a crock-pot casserole and learning how to knit, reading and listening to the radio.

[LiberalEsto]

20. Hi

:hi:

Yes, we do the dog path thing too. Our daughter's dog Bailey is a 16-pound half-chihuahua, half-King Charles Cavalier spaniel. He has short fur and is miserable when it's cold and snowy. My dog Penny is 20 pounds. She's half King Charles spaniel and half American Eskimo, and she adores playing in the snow. I wonder how she will react to 2 feet or more of it. When we got the last big one in December, she swam through the snow by taking big leaps.


Let's hope all the doggies, yours, mine and everyone else's, stay safe and warm through the rest of this horrible winter. It's got to end some time.

[unabelladonna]

23. keep those pups warm

i trained my dog to use a wee-wee pad if he couldn't be taken outside (or my husband and i are away for the afternoon). there were times when i lived in NY that he would refuse to go out. i definitely do not miss snow and freezing temperatures.

[Kahuna]

6. Nothing in nothern NJ yet.

:D

[Dr.Phool]

7. I hope lard assed Dick Shelby tuns into the Donner Party on his way home.

Just sayin'.

[laylah]

13. Oh my!

:rofl: +1

[sharp_stick]

8. Hanging out here

in central CT with my snow shovel safely up on the garage wall where it will stay all weekend cause we're not getting it.

Damn I was happy to hear we are missing this one too. The last big storm went out to sea just below us and this one looks like the same.

I hate massive snow dumps, you've got to shovel during the damned thing, once the damned thing is over and then for two days following the damned thing because the plows keep putting it back in my driveway.

Stay safe down there and stay inside. Run out and get your beer early.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

11. I hope you're right about the storm missing us.

I'm in the shoreline area of CT.

I have small dogs and have to shovel a path in the backyard to the trees in addition to all the other shoveling

[swilton]

12. Here in Silver Spring, Md.

we have a winter storm warning in effect until late Saturday. My only concern is being able to dig a little path out in the snow for my two small dogs - a pug, Greta, and an even smaller Chihuahua mix named Gigi. Since this bad winter of 2009, they've been trained to go in the path in the snow - I just hope I can dig it for them before we all get buried in the onslaught. I rather enjoy four seasons and hope to eventually move north - but this is supposedly a record-setting event. :hi:

[Jennicut]

15. Yeah, not supposed to hit us in CT for once.

We are lucky, we usually get slammed with a Nor'easter at least once a year.

[dropkickpa]

9. Meh

I fucking hate snow.

[jwirr]

10. While the price of gas is a problem those who have gas as opposed

to those who have electric heat are safer. When the lights go out they still have heat. Here in MN the first year we lived in our home we had to live in a hotel for four days because the electric power lines were down. Now we have a gas space heater and we can stay home.

[bikebloke]

16. Our office let out at 1 pm.

The snow wasn't sticking to the streets, so figured I had about an hour before it did. So I hopped on my bike for my Saturday grocery run. The eejits cleaned out the bread (probably the milk too - I didn't look. All because you're "supposed to buy milk and bread for a snow storm". But I got everything else. I have some half-stale bread from the previous week that will have to do for lunch sandwiches.

The snow finally started sticking to the streets as I rolled home.

[ezmerelda39]

17. Price gouging???

Take an unusual weather event and turn it into a healthy profit margin..isn't that price gouging?

[kimmerspixelated]

18. We are hoping the kind neighbor will plow us out

when it's all over. One car is 4wd. The other isn't. Mostly, I just hope the electricity doesn't go out. It's one thing to go without conveniences, another to go without heat! Have can opener and good soup handy, plus candles and blankies!

[undeterred]

21. Everyone needs a kind neighbor.

I've got a terrific neighbor with a snow thrower. He helps all of us and seems to really enjoy it.

[Lugnut]

22. There is a heavy coating here in NE PA.

The forecast for this area is for only about 2 or 3 inches total accumulation for the duration. Best wishes to those of you who are in the heavily affected area.

[RamboLiberal]

24. We got hammered here in SW PA area

I just got power back tonight after 24+ hours off. Would've been brutal tonight with temps down in single digits. On my street I swear my neighbor & I did, both ladies in our late 50's, did the most work digging out both our cars. She had branches from her tree break off & fall on her car. Don't think there was any damage though since the car was well snow-coverd when they fell.

It was tough getting home Friday night from work. Lots of abandoned cars. I was please my little Suzuki SX4 in AWD seemed to handle the roads really well.

When I finally got out late this afternoon really hoping for a hot meal, I found one restaurant still open. I heard the poor cook had been on duty for 24 hours. And there were only a couple of wait persons. I was fortunate I got a good chooped steak dinner before they told customers arriving after me it was salad bar only. Needless to say I left a good tip for all.