Heavy snowfall and high winds on the east coast resulted in power outages in many homes and the cancellation of many airliners. Severe blizzards raged from Georgia to several states off the northeast coast from Sunday eve until the Martin Luther King Day holiday, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and Associated Press on the 17th. Over 17 inches (about 43 centimeters) of snow accumulated in Buffalo, New York, and Ashterbul, Ohio, while Asheville, North Carolina broke the previous record set in 1891 for the first time when 10 inches (about 25 centimeters) fell. snow. 130 years cleared it. As of noon that day, more than 200,000 households in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia were affected by power outages.
At Brevard College in North Carolina, the roof of a dormitory collapsed, unable to withstand the weight of snow, but, fortunately, no one was hurt. Traffic incidents occurred on after the other as the road turned icy. In Raleigh, North Carolina, two passengers died when a car that skidded on an icy road crashed into a tree, and more than 1,000 traffic accidents were recorded in Virginia the day before. In response to the snowstorm both North and South Carolina, among other states have declared a state of emergency. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp tweeted the day before: “If possible, stay home and don’t go outside until tonight and tomorrow morning.”
In large northeastern cities with large populations, such as New York and Boston, there is little snow but strong winds. According to Flight Aware, a flight-tracking website, more than 3,000 flights were canceled in the US the day before due to heavy snowfall, more than 1,600 flights were canceled on the same day. The winter storm, which is moving north along the Appalachians, has also caused snow in southeastern Canada.