Eastern Seaboard Hit by Storms Again!

GLOBAL WARMING?

NOTE: Dear readers, we here at the 'Perspective Research Department' attempted to get a crew out to the Maritimes to cover the terrible weather they are having this winter, but due to flight delays and roads being closed we have had to rely on these reports from AP and the CBC! ;>)

A storm that had been predicted for days caught much of the Eastern Seaboard off guard with its ferocity, tearing through with lightning, thunder and mounds of wet snow, leaving nearly 300,000 customers around Washington D.C. without power Thursday and forcing people to shovel out their cars and doorsteps all over again.

"What a mess," said Andy Kolstad, a 65-year-old federal statistician from Silver Spring, Md., who had to walk half an hour uphill to catch a bus after his regular shuttle bus was canceled. "There was no point in staying home because I couldn't have breakfast in the dark," he said.

The region has already been pummeled by winter not even halfway into the season. Nineteen inches of snow fell on New York City atop the 36 inches it had already seen so far this winter; the city typically sees just 21 inches for the whole season.

With files from The Associated Press

MEANWHILE, IN CANUKLAND!

Environment Canada has issued a snowfall warning across the Maritimes, with between 10 and 30 centimetres expected.

Winds of 60 km/h to 80 km/h are expected in the afternoon.

Snowplows are being pulled off secondary roads in western P.E.I. as an East Coast winter storm peaks on the Island, and begins to ease in Nova Scotia.

RCMP are requesting that people not travel on routes 2 or 1A, the main highways through that section of P.E.I., due to poor visibility. "When it's not snowing hard, it's going to be blowing hard, so the snow, what does fall, is going to blow around, reduce visibility probably to zero in a few places, so anyone out and about please use caution," said Environment Canada meteorologist Darren Borgel.

Schools all around the Maritimes are closed as the fourth storm in two weeks is hitting the region.

William Bourque, a meteorologist with Radio-Canada, said he expects southeastern New Brunswick will be hardest hit. "There's a lot of open water out there, and so the wind is circulating over the Gulf [if St. Lawrence] and into the [Northumberland] Strait, and it picks up all that moisture and just dumps it over southeast New Brunswick, so you could head inland and you'll see the snowfall amounts will be much less," Bourque said.

The snow is expected to end overnight, tonight, and Bourque expects strong winds gusting to 70 km/h in the southeast region of New Brunswick.

Codiac Transit will pull its buses from the roads in Greater Moncton at 2:30 p.m., citing too much snow and ice on the roads.

The streets of Halifax are covered in slush and there were numerous car accidents across the city. Parts of southwestern Nova Scotia have been hit by freezing rain and a snowfall warning was issued for the area. Over the Cape Breton Highlands, Les Suêtes winds are expected to develop, with gusts of up to 120 km/h. By early afternoon, much of the snowfall in Halifax had stopped.

Snowfall warnings have also been issued for western Newfoundland, with 15 to 30 centimetres expected. The precipitation will start as snow for the whole province, but change to rain for the eastern half.

But the storm is expected to move out quickly, with most of the inclement weather ending by Friday!

CBC News

(Air Canada warned on its website that weather conditions could affect flights from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and P.E.I and asked that passengers check their flight status online prior to leaving for the airport or call Air Canada's automated flight information system at 1-888-422-7533.)