By: Vivienne Wellet

A severe snowstorm has recently hit the mid-Atlantic (which includes States such as Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland,Virginia, and New Jersey). Over five people died from all the snow, wind, and hail that had come down due to the storm. The snow was about 6-12 inches over these states average snowfall amounts. Drivers have been stuck in traffic on the 50-mile stretch, on I-95 moving northeast due to the heavy snow and branches and trees that the wind blew down. Both lanes on the highway were shut off and stranded many many people on it. Police Officials said they had relocated cars that had disabled people.

   A man named Tim Kaine, a driver who was heading South said he got stuck on the I-95 highway for over 24 hours. Motorists were super frustrated and nervous because they were scared of freezing to death. Plane cancellations have been happening for the last couple of days and over 5,000 people have been stuck at the airport due to the snowstorm. According to the National Weather Service, Huntingtown, Maryland’s Eastern Shore calculated around 15.5 inches which is also the most it has been in the region. The snowstorm was moving down to Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, and Florida. Yes, it snowed in Florida (it was not much snow) but it did snow in Southern Florida. 

  A car had four passengers including the driver, when the accident had occurred with a snowplow and killed three of them, two women and a man, according to the police they were pronounced dead when they first got there. The fourth was a man who didn’t die but got carried out to a hospital because he was in critical conditions. During the Thundersnow two children that lived in different homes and states one, was a 5-year-old boy from Decatur, Georgia ,and another child from Townsend, Tennessee. Giant trees had fallen on both of the homes and crushed them while they were both in a room. Over 68k people lost power across eight states. Virginia with the most people who had lost power at 36k. 

   Worse things may come towards the Mid-Atlantic states including severe thunderstorms that will come right after the snowstorms, and there’s been flood watches in South Carolina, Myrtle Beach, Cape Hatteras, and North Carolina. A cold front may develop in time with the snow storms. There were tornado watches around Mississippi, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama.Mid-Atlantic and Northwest highs will most likely be 20-30 degrees lower so that is a big warning to the roads everyone uses everyday because if they aren’t careful then accidents will increase. Snowfall set records on January 3rd at three major airports. More than 2,800 flights were canceled because of the snowstorm and covid. Tenneesse would see 5-9 inches of snow and South Carolina would get 3-5 inches of snow. Washington D.C. was in a snowstorm as well. The federal government was closed on Monday due to all the harsh conditions. Over 8.5 inches of snow was recorded in Washington, which was the most snow since January 2016. More than 530,000 people were left without power. 

Image from The Washington Post