The second major snowstorm in a week will pound the mid-Atlantic today through Wednesday, dumping more snow on a region still digging out from Friday and Saturday's Snowmageddon. The new storm, which could bring blizzard conditions during its peak, will also extend farther to the north than the recent storm. Heavy snow is expected in New York City and possibly as far north as Boston as the storm dies down Wednesday night.
The severe weather was expected to stop travel and commerce along the Washington-New York corridor. And it might mean that Philadelphia, Baltimore and possibly Washington, D.C. -- all crippled in last week's storm -- will break their seasonal snowfall records.
The heaviest new snowfall should occur between Baltimore and New York, where more than 20 inches could accumulate. Washington, where the federal government was closed this week after the capital got up to 28 inches in some areas over the weekend, could receive another foot or so of the white stuff.
In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg took the unusual step of canceling school for the next day -- a day before the first flakes hit the ground. It will be the third snow day for New York's public school kids since 2004.
New York's Sanitation Department has 1,600 plows standing by to remove snow from the city's 6,300 miles of streets and highways. Flight cancellations and delays are expected Wednesday at the area's three airports.
New Yorker Brian Harrison, 28, said American Airlines told him this morning to reschedule for an earlier flight tomorrow if he wanted any chance of leaving LaGuardia Airport.
"You're best served to get off as early as you can," Harrison said.
Meanwhile, Amtrak service along the Northeast corridor was still heavily affected by last weekend's storm, with several trains canceled today due to downed power lines and trees along the tracks.
"Getting around is a pain right now as it is, so slushy and sloppy," said Meghan Garaghan, 28, at a supermarket in Philadelphia, which had 28 inches of snow from the last storm. "I don't want to think about what it's going to be like with another foot and a half of snow dumped on top of this mess."
In Washington, the latest storm was expected to hit before the city recovered from the last one, which dumped more than two feet of snow across many areas of the mid-Atlantic region. Cleanup crews across the region were scrambling to plow side streets that they had yet to reach following the weekend blizzard, mass transit officials warned of another shutdown, and some residents were facing the prospect of a full week off from work.
"We are working as hard as we can," D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post. "We have crews who have been out since 8 a.m. Friday, and I don't know how these crews can work any harder."
The federal government, which had shut down early Friday, was closed again on Monday and Tuesday, with Wednesday almost certain to be another snow day. The U.S. Postal Service resumed deliveries in the region on Tuesday after going dark on Saturday and Monday.
One northern Virginia community, Loudoun County, announced that schools would not reopen until after Presidents Day. And while the "snow week" undoubtedly meant joy for schoolchildren, for many residents, enough was enough.
"One blizzard in December was really fun. The second one ... was fine with me," said Cindy Kittner, a TV documentarian whose Thursday morning flight to Idaho was already canceled in advance of the storm. "This next batch of snow has me wanting to move south."
Kittner, a Texas native, was supposed to fly out of Washington's Reagan Airport for a ski trip over the weekend. She re-booked for later Thursday afternoon.
"I'm kind of taking my chances and hoping for the best," she said.
Airlines already facing a logjam from hundreds of cancellations over the weekend wiped out another round of flights on Tuesday, and authorities were urging fliers to check on their trips before heading to the airport.
On Capitol Hill, political progress slowed by partisanship ground to a halt because of the snow. The House canceled all votes for the week, meaning lawmakers already scheduled to go on recess next week for Presidents Day will not return until Feb. 22. Most hearings scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday were also postponed. And at the White House, Vice President Joseph Biden scrapped a speech he was set to deliver Wednesday on nuclear security.
Not only will the coming snowfall be intense, but a strong wind will make things worse with possible blizzard conditions. The National Weather Service defines those conditions as falling or blowing snow with winds of more than 35 mph, along with visibility of less than a quarter-mile, continuing for at least three hours.
The new storm could be one for the record books. An accumulation of 9.3 inches will break the seasonal snowfall record of 65.5 inches in Philadelphia, which was set in the snow-filled 1995-96 winter. The storm is a virtual lock to push Baltimore to a new record. Only 2.2 inches of snow are needed to break the seasonal record of 62.5 inches, which was also set in 1995-96.
At Reagan Airport, Snowmageddon 2 would need to dump 9.4 inches to break the longstanding seasonal snowfall record of 54.5 inches, set in the 1898-99 winter. Dulles Airport, with a seasonal snowfall of 63.5 inches so far this winter, has already established the record for the snowiest winter.
While the storm will be dangerous for the entire region, the recovery afterward will be hardest from Philadelphia south to Washington, where the recent storm put down a deep layer of snow. Yet another system will move through the mid-Atlantic region and the Northeast during the first part of next week.
Dana Chivvis contributed to this report.
