2006 жылғы Солтүстік Америка қысқы дауілі

Winter storm in North America in 2006

The North American blizzard of 2006 was a nor'easter that began on the evening of February 11, 2006 and impacted much of eastern North America. It dumped heavy snow across the Mid Atlantic and New England states, from Virginia to Maine through the early evening of February 12, and ended in Atlantic Canada on February 13. The major cities from Baltimore to Boston received at least a foot of snow, with a second highest amount of in New York City, the (at the time) most since at least 1869, the start of record keeping, only broken by the January 2016 United States blizzard nearly 10 years later.

Since the heaviest snow was confined to a fairly small, but very heavily populated area, the storm was only ranked as a low end Category 3 (Major) on the new Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale, which takes into account the area and population affected, as well as snowfall accumulations. This indirectly also reflects the fact that casualties were extremely low and cleanup was fairly quick, even in the New York City area where the record snow amounts occurred. The main reasons for this are: A) The storm fell on a Sunday when many people can more easily stay home, B) the relatively small geographic area of extremely large snowfall, and C) Because the temperature was well below freezing throughout most of the storm, the snow was mostly dry and light in composition, as opposed to the wet and heavy snows that make some otherwise lesser storms much harder to clean up from and are more common at least in the coastal Northeast. Additionally, temperatures in the days after the storm were unseasonably warm in some spots (reaching the mid 50s °F in hard hit New York City, and the mid 60s in DC) which helped melt the snow much more quickly than usual. The storm system began developing on February 11 as a relatively minor system, bringing some snow along the southern Appalachian range. The low pressure center moved off shore early February 12 before it began its rapid intensification. By early morning, snow began falling heavily, taking several forecasters by surprise who had expected about a foot of snow, at most, along the eastern fringes of the Atlantic seaboard. During the height of the storm on Sunday morning the 12th, thunder and lightning occurred as the snow fell. The extreme intensification was partially the result of a fairly mild winter that kept water temperatures in the Atlantic a few degrees warmer than they normally are in February. The storm system's intensity led to snowfall accumulations upwards of in some localities. In addition to the heavy snow, coastal flooding from storm surge was reported, particularly in Massachusetts. Storm surges have been recorded as high as 3 feet (1 m) in parts of New England. The low pressure area began forming in the Southern states a few days prior to the Blizzard striking, eventually merging with a northern stream system. A trough on the East Coast brought the system up the coast, and cold high pressure to the north eventually slowed the system to a crawl. As the system completed bombing, or rapid decrease in central pressure (a common measure of the strength of a storm), mesoscale banding features (areas of significant snowfall associated with smaller scale physical phenomena) impinged on the entire I 95 Corridor. The low pressure center was so deep that somewhat of an eye actually formed. Rarely do eyes form on storms other than hurricanes, and it is especially rare in extratropical cyclones. NASA took a satellite picture of the eye of the storm; the eye was located south and east of southern New Jersey in this picture.

Three casualties occurred as a result of the snow: in Virginia, a man died due to his truck sliding off a highway; in Baltimore, a person died in a house fire as a result of snow delaying rescue workers from getting to the fire. A third fatality occurred in a weather related accident in Nova Scotia.

While Connecticut was one of the hardest hit areas, the state was well prepared for the storm and managed to avoid major problems. Hartford received a total of of snow — the second largest snowfall since 1906. A total of fell in the small Sandy Hook village. West Hartford totaled and Fairfield saw of snow. Despite the large amounts of snow, there were only isolated individual power outages. At the storm's onset, governor M. Jodi Rell ordered all tractor trailer trucks off the state's highways to facilitate the efforts of highway crews with snow removal. Motorists whose vehicles were not equipped with 4 wheel drive were required to use snow chains to travel on state roadways during the storm. Connecticut mobilized 2,500 state owned and privately contracted snowplows to keep state highways open during the storm. The state's 169 cities and towns employed hundreds of additional plows to keep local roads passable. Bradley International Airport was closed for several hours, and the storm disrupted service on Metro North.

New Castle County and Wilmington felt the brunt of this storm, with of snow. Kent and Sussex counties to the south mixed with rain for a while, and saw significantly less snow accumulations, mostly in the range.

Residents in Washington, D. C. missed the worst of the storm. The city received about of snow, far less than in the suburbs. Approximately 3,000 people lost electricity in the District of Columbia. However, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (just across the Potomac River) was closed.

The heaviest snow in Maryland fell from the northern suburbs of Washington, D. C., to the Baltimore area. These areas overwhelmingly saw over a foot of snow. Snowfall rates of per hour were common, and thundersnow occurred. Snowfall amounts of up to were reported in Columbia, in Baltimore, in Catonsville, and a foot (30.5 cm) in Potomac. This was the area's heaviest snow since the North American blizzard of 2003. Lesser amounts occurred in western and southern parts of the state. Maryland was hardest hit by power outages. In the Baltimore area, more than 62,000 people lost electricity, plus another 16,000 in Montgomery County and 37,000 in Prince George's County.

The most serious coastal problems were in Massachusetts. The heaviest snow was in the central part of the state, where snow amounts of up to were reported. Coastal areas, particularly around Nantucket, saw lesser amounts (approximately 12") as it was mixed with sleet at times, but winds of up to whipped up the ocean with storm surges of and led to some coastal flooding, plus offshore waves of up to 25 feet (8 m). Logan International Airport in Boston and Barnstable municipal airport in Hyannis on Cape Cod saw over 90% of their flights cancelled at the peak of the storm. There were no power outages, despite the conditions. There was one death; a tree fell onto a pickup truck in Billerica, killing the driver. Strong winds across the state caused $1.9 million in damage (2006 USD).

The impact of the blizzard in North Jersey was strong enough to stop the New Jersey Transit bus service between 7:30 a. m. and 4:00 p. m., although trains continued to run (with some delays). Many roads remained closed. Businesses were closed for most of the day. 16,000 people were without power in the state. Central and northeastern New Jersey saw the brunt of the storm due to heavy banding through the night into the morning: of snow fell at Newark Airport and 27" fell in Rahway. The first Wicked Faire took place as scheduled.

Snowfall totals were measured at at Philadelphia International Airport, but 35 mile (56 km) to the west in West Caln Township there were Philadelphia International Airport remained open throughout the storm, although about 50% of flights were cancelled. There were also power outages in the Philadelphia area, with about 10,000 customers losing power. In Western Pennsylvania, however, only or less of snow accumulated. Philadelphia public and parchocial schools were closed for the day.

The Governor of Rhode Island, Donald Carcieri, declared a statewide state of emergency due to the blizzard conditions. The Providence Journal reported that state accumulations were generally between Generally, Providence County received the heaviest accumulations in the state (see the chart below). On February 12, the bulk of the snow ended around 5:00 p. m. Eastern Standard Time, with flurries lasting through the early evening. No significant power outages or injuries were reported.

According to Dominion Power, over 64,000 people in Northern Virginia lost power in the storm, primarily in the suburban areas adjacent to Washington, D. C. Many locations in the extreme northeastern portion of the state recorded of snow, with Falls Church and Fairfax coming in at respectively. Fairfax County and eastern Loudoun County were generally the start of the 12+" (30+ cm) accumulations, which spread north towards Massachusetts.

While the snowfall amounts diminished somewhat (to about 6 to or 15 to 30 cm) by the time the storm tracked east into Atlantic Canada, the winds increased substantially. The worst of the storm was felt along the Atlantic coast, particularly in a swath around the Bay of Fundy, the Northumberland Strait and the south coast of Newfoundland. Hurricane force wind gusts were reported in several communities, peaking at in Grand Etang, Nova Scotia (equal to a Category 2 hurricane) and in Cape Race on the east coast of Newfoundland. Some damage was reported as a result of the strong winds, particularly downed power lines but also some roof damage to buildings.