Double whammy weather ahead for U.S. Northeast

Just as the U.S. East Coast dug out from a canopy of wet, heavy snow that again shut schools and emptied workplaces, another hit was expected to sock the Midwest.

The U.S. National Weather Service said Monday's storm, which brought 20 cm of snow to New York City, eight to 23 cm to the Philadelphia area and up to 23 cm to central New Jersey, will be followed by a new storm in the Midwest on Tuesday. The heaviest accumulations are expected in Kansas and Missouri.

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The double whammy continues for the Northeast late Tuesday into early Wednesday when the storm brings up to 30 cm of snow in northern Pennsylvania and 12 to 23 cm in Boston. The New York area could get 10 to 18 cm of snow followed by rain, freezing rain and sleet — possibly creating a messy morning commute.

And even though it's days away, the weather service said there's a chance of even more of the cold, white flakes beginning Saturday and continuing into Sunday on the East Coast. It could be a trifecta of foul weather.

"This winter has been a pretty amazing winter across a whole lot of the country," said Joseph Pajor, deputy director of the department of public works and utilities for the city of Wichita, Kan., which was expected to get about five cm of snow overnight and another 15 on Tuesday.

On Monday, government offices, courts and schools were closed in parts of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia; scattered power outages were reported throughout the region. Speed limits were reduced on many major highways.

At least two deaths and one serious injury were blamed on the storm. In western Kentucky, where the snow began falling Sunday, a 24-year-old man died that night when his car skidded into a snowplow. On Monday, a 73-year-old New York City man was fatally struck by a backhoe that was moving snow.

A 10-year-old girl was in serious condition after she was impaled by a metal rod while sledding north of Baltimore.

In Ohio, where the storm dumped as much as 25 cm on the state Monday, there were numerous traffic accidents, none serious. "It was mostly bent fenders and hurt feelings," said Kim Carver, director of the Scioto County Emergency Management Agency in Portsmouth.