Powerful winter storm hammers northeast setting string of new snowfall records

More than 100,00 people are without power in Massachusetts

Xavier Martinez scrapes snow off his windshield during a storm in Providence, RI on 29 January 2022 (AP)

A powerful winter storm has hammered northeastern states dumping 2ft of snow in some places and breaking a string of  snowfall records.

More than 120,000 people lost power in Massachusetts, Rhode Island which banned travel. More than 5,600 flights were cancelled as the storm pummelled the region on Saturday.

Massachusetts governor Charlie Baker said more power outages were expected overnight because of high winds and that some parts of the state may get up to 30 inches of snow.

He added that there were more than 3,000 pieces of snow clearing equipment being used across the state and that crews would work through the night to clear the roads.

The National Weather Service said Philadelphia and Atlantic City were among the places that set new daily snowfall records for 29 January.

(AP)

Atlantic City recorded 14 inches of snow, breaking the previous record of 7.3 inches set in 2014, while Philadelphia saw 5.8 inches of snow, breaking the old record of 5 inches set in 1904.

New York City’s John F Kennedy Airport recorded 11 inches, breaking the old record of 1 inch set in 2014 and LaGuardia Airport recorded 9.4 inches, replacing the old mark of 0.9 inches set in 1966.

Manhattan’s Central Park recorded 7.3 inches, breaking the old record of 4.7 inches set in 1904.

But the highest amount of snow was seen in Norton, Massachusetts, which saw a total of 22.5 inches.

Forecasters said Boston could end up being the hardest hit location in the country, with more than 2ft of snow possible, threatening the 2003 record of 27.6 inches.

By 4pm ET, 19 million were still under a winter weather warning, which stretched from southern New York to Maine and included New York City, Boston and Portland.