Historic Winter Isn't Behind Us Yet
Boston is a few inches away from a snowfall record.
— -- Boston has come just short of surpassing its season snowfall record -- but with additional snowfall expected in the coming days, the record could soon fall.
Sunday’s snowfall brought the city’s total to 104 inches, within four inches of the record of 107.6 set in 1995-96. The fresh snow is adding to residents’ winter misery.
The weekend storm brought 10 inches of snow to Illinois and Indiana, seven inches to Missouri, eight inches in parts of Ohio, seven inches in parts of New York and 5.2 inches to parts of Massachusetts.
In North Carolina Sunday, black ice led to spin-outs and accidents. After her car spun out, Jenn Daniel said she watched helplessly as others faced the same predicament.
“We were standing up on the hill and just watched them come off, one after another,” Daniel said. “It was scary.”
A 30-vehicle pileup was also reported in Phelps County, Missouri, south of St. Louis, after a Greyhound bus lost control.
The weekend storms caused more than 2,000 flight cancellations Sunday and more than 4,000 since Friday. Winter weather in Texas was a big part of the problem, causing thousands of passengers -- including Liz Dryfoos and her family -- to remain stranded for days at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
“We’re hanging in there, but it’s a bummer,” Dryfoos said.
Another winter storm will be taking aim on millions of Americans Tuesday and hitting many of the same locations that received snow over the weekend. However, the next storm will track north and bring more rain than snow to many cities. Some heavy rain is possible, as well, prompting flooding concerns from the Tennessee Valley to New England given the current widespread snow cover throughout the country.
The storm is expected to move into the northern Plains Tuesday, bringing blizzard conditions to parts of South Dakota and Minnesota. By Tuesday night, rain and snow should fall across the Northeast, but warmer temperatures should keep Boston from receiving huge snow accumulations.
The storm will turn to rain Wednesday, with temperatures climbing to 45 and 50 degrees along the East Coast.
While the calendar has turned to March, this winter’s fury has already broken records. Art DeGaetano, director of the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell University, said many areas in the Northeast experienced historic cold in February.
“February was really special. In most of the larger upstate New York cities, places like Syracuse and Buffalo had their coldest February on record, and records for those stations go back to the late 1800s,” DeGaetano said.
As some parts of the country deal with sub-freezing temperatures and mounds of snow, sections of the West Coast are facing heavy rains. As much as two inches of rain fell in parts of southern California Sunday, with hail and a few waterspouts reported. More rain is expected today, with the potential for flash flooding in some areas of Los Angeles.
The Associated Press and ABC News Radio contributed to this report.