Snow and Ice Today in the Northeast....Power Outages in Pennsylvania...Cold Air to Follow

The second winter storm so far this week produced 4 inches of snow with a quarter-inch of ice in Central Park. Freezing rain is still occurring in parts of the New York City metro area at noon. A total of 12.5 inches of snow and ice fell in Newburgh, NY, 9.5 inches in Shelton, CT and 5.5 inches in the Bronx. Heavy snow is falling across Massachusetts with up to 10 to 14 inches of snow expected.  Boston is expecting up to 10 inches of snow through this evening. Hundreds of thousands of people were without power in Pennsylvania today as the ice brought down trees and power lines.  A cold Arctic blast is diving down across the Northern Plains and the Great Lakes tonight with wind chills down to 40 below zero.  The weather will be cold and dry in the Northeast for the next few days with a chance of light snow on Sunday. Another storm may affect the East Coast late next week.  

From CNN.com:

In New York, where heavy snows are taxing salt reserves, Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared an emergency for the entire state and shut down Interstate 84. "New Yorkers in affected regions should stay off the roads, check on their neighbors and loved ones, and stay inside their homes until the worst of the storm has passed," he said in a prepared statement. Transportation regulators waived rest rules for salt-truck drivers to get remaining salt stockpiles moved to where they are needed: New York City and Long Island. In Philadelphia, freezing rain left more than 500,000 homes and businesses without power early Wednesday, according to PECO, Philadelphia's main electric utility. More than 242,000 customers were without power elsewhere in Pennsylvania, according to utilities.

More outages are expected as ice accumulations cause more damage throughout the region, PECO spokeswoman Cathy Engel Menendez said. In Baltimore, 80,000 homes and businesses were without power, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company said. Another 43,100 had no power in parts of New Jersey, utilities there said. In Arkansas, where the storm brought ice Tuesday, more than 41,000 homes and businesses were without power, utility company Entergy said. Wet, heavy snow coated Boston in the early morning. City officials banned on-street parking and vowed to get an early start on treating roads, but some on Twitter said conditions were ugly.  Two Delta Air Lines aircraft got stuck in the snow in unrelated airport incidents -- one in Greensboro, North Carolina, and the other in Detroit.

George Wright is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist for Wright Weather Consulting, LLC. Visit our website at WrightWeather.com. Follow George Wright on Twitter @gwweather.