All Articles Tagged "blizzard"
You’re Not Going Anywhere: Winter Storm Nemo Leads to Canceled Flights
Press Association via AP Images
As the Northeast hunkers down for the blizzard dubbed Nemo, airlines have canceled more than 3,000 flights for Friday, mostly from New York, Boston and Chicago airports, reports KTLA.
Amtrak has also canceled some trips. CNN is saying 30 inches of snow is possible in Boston.
According to the flight-monitoring site FlightAware, this is in addition to 475 flights canceled for Thursday and 454 canceled for Saturday.
Storm warnings and blizzard conditions have been predicted, and the snow is already falling in many places. According to the National Weather Service, two weather systems meet over the next 24 hours to “produce a major and potentially historic winter storm for the Northeastern U.S.”
KTLA explains: “A wet subtropical system rising from the Gulf Coast will collide with a polar front rolling in from the Midwest to produce a potentially historic winter storm. The icy rage is expected to begin in the New England area Friday afternoon, the National Weather Service predicts, and will last into Saturday.” The storms are expects to hit some of the areas that were devastated (and still recovering from) Superstorm Sandy.
But many of the nation’s largest airlines have announced they will waive the fees they normally charge to rebook a flight with a non-refundable ticket, reports the LA Times.
Snowstorm Costs City $8 Million
(AP) — Chicago’s largest snow storm in years cost the city at least $8 million. The Chicago Sun-Times reports Mayor Richard Daley’s administration awarded 32 contracts of $250,000 each on Feb. 3. The contracts were for snow removal, storm cleanup or rescue. The storm dumped more than 20 inches of snow on the city, leading to a virtual shutdown for more than a day.
Crime Down, Bills Up: How Snow Affects the City
(New York Times) — With no snow for days, and none in the immediate forecast, the city is moving out of its period of being buried, which began the day after Christmas and never seemed to end. But as the snow melts, and as city officials tally the cost of this record-breaking winter, other price tags are becoming clear — whether they be financial, emotional, even electrical. And some of the numbers are good. Many major crimes were down, even way down, during the snowed-in weeks. The Empire State Building weighs 365,000 tons. Imagine sanitation workers lifting it. They have come close, figuratively speaking — the city’s Sanitation Department has spread 332,486 tons of salt on the streets so far this winter. Now imagine Citi Field, the Mets’ stadium in Queens — sanitation crews have cleared enough snow this winter from city streets to fill the stadium more than 4,200 times. New York City makes about $350,000 a day from thousands of parking meters. Because of the snow, parking-meter regulations have been suspended for 12 days since the December blizzard. The total bill comes to roughly $4 million: the estimated amount the city has lost in parking-meter revenue. The city has already spent its entire winter snow budget — $38.8 million. A spokesman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said the administration was still calculating the city’s total bill and expected to have a figure soon.
Everybody Hates a Blizzard, but Pity the Politicians Whose Wards Got Short Shrift
(New York Times) — The day after the blizzard, with election day less than three weeks away, Alderman Freddrenna Lyle (6th Ward) listened wearily to a stream of constituents who phoned to complain that unplowed snow was still keeping them from driving. “Everybody who calls ends the message with something like, ‘You know this is election season,’ ” Ms. Lyle said, her voice hoarse from a cold. She added sarcastically: “ ’No, I didn’t know. Thanks for reminding me.’ ”Mayor Richard M. Daley is retiring and does not need to worry about political fallout from last week’s giant storm, but some aldermen who face challengers in the Feb. 22 election fretted that the belated arrival of city plows in parts of their wards would harm their re-election chances . While much of the focus was on the city’s failure to either close or adequately clear Lake Shore Drive, leaving hundreds of motorists stranded, the response to the storm in many wards reopened the long-running question of whether City Hall shortchanges outlying neighborhoods in the allocation of services. Some aldermen again alleged that the Daley administration’s Streets and Sanitation Department favored downtown over streets lined with brick bungalows and low-rise apartment buildings.
Another 1,100 Flights at O’Hare Canceled
(Chicago Tribune) — Commercial flights are starting up again at the city’s two airports following the grounding of almost all planes since Tuesday afternoon, but already there have been a number of cancellations. At 8:30 p.m., the Chicago Department of Aviation reported more than 1,100 flight cancellations at O’Hare International Airport and about 40 at Midway Airport. ”Today is expected to be a very busy travel day at both O’Hare and Midway as airlines rebook passengers and work to resume full operations,” the aviation department said.
Workers Brave the Elements, Get Creative to Report for Work
(Chicago Sun Times) — While most businesses and major corporate offices were closed Wednesday, determined Chicagoans who needed to feed hungry customers, trade in the markets, care for the sick or tend to animals found a way to make it to work. One climbed out the window of his home because he couldn’t get out the front door. Another drove down a closed highway. Others didn’t need a dramatic effort. In the Chicago financial markets, most people either stayed overnight in a downtown hotel or had access to Metra service. The Chicago exchanges had information technology workers ready to make certain their systems functioned. But even with those precautions, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade had a rare delay in the start of “open outcry” markets, which didn’t begin until 10 a.m .
Massive Snowstorm Will Cost Workers and Businesses
(Christian Science Monitor) — This week’s goliath snow storm, which stretched across some 30 states, has put a dent in America’s productivity. Some cities like Tulsa, Okla., and Chicago shut down in the face of record or near-record snowfalls. In other places, government offices and schools closed while businesses remained open. How much the storm will hurt US productivity is difficult to quantify. It’s also uneven, hitting service workers much harder than office employees and professionals who can work remotely. Organizations that depend on their employees’ physical presence will feel the biggest pinch. Restaurants, retailers, airlines, hospitals, hotels, and other service companies lose not only workers but customers on days when travel is difficult.
For City Workers, Snow Day Comes With Red Tape
(Wall Street Journal) — Oh, snow! Mayor Michael Bloomberg has yet another snow-related debacle on his winter-weary shoulders — and this time city employees are throwing the snowballs. City workers accused the mayor of unfairly trying to dock them a day’s pay after he backtracked on declaring an official snow day last week. On Jan. 27, after a storm blanketed the city in 19 inches of snow, the mayor’s press office issued a statement from Bloomberg announcing that most government offices were closed for the day. “Because heavy snow fell in the city overnight, all non-emergency city government offices are closed for today, in addition to all public schools,” the statement said. “New York City almost never takes a snow day, but today is one of those rare days. People should stay at home and off the roads.”
Inaction and Delays by New York as Storm Bore Down
(New York Times) — At 3:58 a.m. on Christmas Day, the National Weather Service upgraded its alert about the snow headed to New York City, issuing a winter storm watch. By 3:55 p.m., it had declared a formal blizzard warning, a rare degree of alarm. But city officials opted not to declare a snow emergency — a significant mobilization that would have, among other things, aided initial snow plowing efforts. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority entered the holiday weekend with modest concerns about the weather. On Friday, it issued its lowest-level warning to subway and bus workers. Indeed, it was not until late Sunday morning, hours after snow had begun to fall, that the agency went to a full alert, rushing to call in additional crew members and emergency workers. Over the next 48 hours, subways lost power on frozen tracks and hundreds of buses wound up stuck in snow-filled streets.
Blizzard Delays $1 Billion in Retail Spending
(AP) — The blizzard that swept through the Northeast on Sunday and Monday delayed $1 billion in retail spending, according to research firm ShopperTrak, but won’t derail a holiday shopping season expected to be the best since 2007. The effect won’t be as bad as last year’s pre-Christmas snowstorm that similarly paralyzed parts of the East Coast. That cost retailers an estimated $2 billion, according to weather research firm Planalytics.
