A Blizzard Rocks the Mid Atlantic

The Mid Atlantic, Northeast United States and Canada have been hit with blizzards this weekend. crippling travel across the region and causing hundreds of thousands of power outages. Five deaths appeared to have been caused by the storm system, which stretched from the Carolinas north to New England and spread into some midwestern states.

The 33 centimeters of snow that fell in Washington, D.C., by late afternoon was the most ever recorded for a day in December. Earlier Saturday, snowplows cleared the runway at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Washington as U.S. President Barack Obama returned from climate talks in Copenhagen. The White House said Obama rode in a motorcade back to the White House, instead of taking his helicopter, because of the conditions. Washington was declared as a snow emergency for the city and forecasters warned that conditions could worsen. Philadelphia also declared a snow emergency and the school district cancelled all weekend activities. The storm was coating streets and highways in Philadelphia and the rest of southeastern Pennsylvania. Forecasters said the storm system was expected to generate winds up to 55 km/h, which could cause near whiteout conditions. Authorities in many areas asked drivers to stay off the roads if possible. Officials at Dulles International and Reagan National airports warned travelers to check on the status of their flights before heading to the capital's airports. The storm system coming from the Gulf of Mexico has been spreading out across much of the Atlantic coastline bringing a mix of snow and freezing rain to North Carolina, Tennessee and parts of western and central Virginia. Several hundred motorists became stranded in western Virginia had to be rescued by four wheel drive vehicles and Hummers driven by members of the National Guard. Virginia was declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm. State police responded to hundreds of accidents statewide as snow accumulated on interstates and rural roads.

A number of flights departing from airports in Toronto and Ottawa were delayed or grounded as a major snowstorm churned over the eastern seaboard. Toronto's Pearson International Airport have been outright cancelled. Ottawa International Airport made cancellations as well. The east coast seems to be getting hit with one of the worst snowstorms in the history of 2009.