Christmas travellers will be facing a challenging journey home. The east coast was blanketed with up to a foot of snow on Wednesday. “Blizzard warnings stretch for 730 continuous miles due to Winter Storm Euclid,” said the Weather Channel. So far, around 1,771 flights have been canceled and 8,388 have been delayed, many at Dallas/Fort Worth, Philadelphia International, and Cleveland’s Hopkins International. On Christmas Day, Mobile Alabama was struck by a rare winter tornado. Reporter John Sharp vividly recalls how his Christmas was interrupted by the phenomenon. “Sirens had started to sound. I turned on TV, but the signal was disrupted. That’s when the wind began to pick up. Then it roared. I moved myself into my bathroom as I heard a clanging noise, like someone taking a large metal spoon to a stock pot. The power then flickered. Once it went off. Then, back on. Off for good. I did what one was supposed to do, I hunkered into my bath tub with my hands above me head curled into a fetal position.”
And it is only expected to get worse. Eastern and central Massachusetts are expecting as much as 18 inches of snow. Wind is also expected to reach gusts of up to 50 miles per hour. “It might be cold enough initially tonight for snow in the city, but that should quickly change over to all rain,” said Bill Simpson, meteorologist with the weather service office in Taunton.
