Weather Market Futures

Sep 06, 2010

Storms Barrels East With Ice, Snow as NYC Bundles Up

Jan 29, 2010

By Brian K. Sullivan

Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The governors of Oklahoma and Arkansas declared states of emergency as a winter storm crept eastward today, leaving 13 inches of snow on the Texas Panhandle and tens of thousands of homes without power.

Parts of Interstate 40, one of the nation’s major east-west arteries, were closed, AccuWeather Inc. reported. The system will move into the mid-Atlantic states overnight with as much as a foot (30 centimeters) of snow for parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia, the State College, Pennsylvania-based forecaster said.

New York City commuters hunched against an icy wind today as a Canadian cold front shoved temperatures down to 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 Celsius), 12 degrees below the average for the date. New York is forecast to have a low temperature of 13 overnight, according to the National Weather Service.

Consolidated Edison Inc. cut natural gas supply to “interruptible” customers in the New York area because of the cold, said D. Joy Faber, a company spokeswoman. In parts of upstate New York and Connecticut, a wind chill advisory will be in effect starting at 10 p.m. because temperatures will feel as low as 25 below zero.

Frostbite Warning

“The wind chill is expected to be cold enough to cause frostbite in 30 minutes or less,” the weather service said in a statement.

The cold will last at least through the weekend. In the Deep South, “locally severe” thunderstorms were forecast along the Gulf Coast and into Atlanta, with winds gusting up to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour), AccuWeather said on its Web site.

Winter storm warnings are in effect in 14 states stretching from Oklahoma and Kansas to Virginia and North Carolina, according to the National Weather Service. Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry and Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe both declared emergencies. North Carolina Governor Bev Perdue waived some trucking regulations to allow fuel and utility vehicle drivers to work more hours.

“It is bad in Oklahoma,” said Tom Kines, a senior meteorologist for AccuWeather. “Those people aren’t equipped to handle that kind of stuff. I suspect schools and a lot of businesses will still be closed by Monday.”

Oklahoma Power Disruptions

At least 180,000 Oklahoma customers are without power as ice downed trees and power lines, according to the state Department of Emergency Management. Two dozen shelters and warming centers have been set up around the state.

Delta Air Lines Inc. canceled more than 450 flights across the South from Oklahoma to Virgina, including two-third of its operations in Memphis, Tennessee, said a company spokesman, Anthony Black. The storm delayed settlements for January feeder- cattle futures and options until at least Feb. 1, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange said in an e-mailed statement.

Cleanup operations on the Sabine-Neches Waterway in Texas, where an oil tanker spilled some of its cargo last weekend after a collision with a towing vessel, were also scaled back because of the weather, Coast Guard Petty Officer Renee Aiello said by telephone.

The Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, which has the highest number of customers without power, 69,716, reported the southwestern part of the state was hit hard. “Damage to the electrical system has been extensive,” it said in a statement.

About a half-inch of ice has encrusted the greater Tulsa metropolitan area, Joe Sellers, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said in a telephone interview. The ice is changing to snow and as much as 6 inches may fall before the storm is over, he said.

There have been scattered minor power outages in Arkansas, said Renee Preslar, spokeswoman for the state’s Department of Emergency Management in North Little Rock.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net.