Violent 'bomb cyclone' sends high tide to near record levels in downtown Boston; motorists stranded

Show Caption Hide Caption Cars trapped in water, roads submerged in Boston A 'bomb cyclone' sweeping the Northeast triggered flooding in Boston and unprecedented high tides along the Massachusetts coast.

A violent winter storm dubbed as a "bomb cyclone" roared into New England with hurricane-like wind gusts Thursday, pushing high tide to near-record levels and stranding inundated motorists on downtown Boston streets.

The brutal storm raced up the East Coast, forcing school closings, canceling flights and knocking out power to thousands. Airport authorities said late Thursday that they were optimistic for flight schedules to resume on Friday morning, but they advised passengers to contact airlines regarding specific flights.

Scattered fatalities were reported, including a car passenger who died after a vehicle on Thursday couldn’t stop at the bottom of a steep, snow-covered hill and slammed into a commuter train on its way to Philadelphia.

Around Boston, the National Weather Service reported that howling winds sent the icy high tide to historic levels. On Boston’s Atlantic Avenue and other areas of the city, severe flooding forced emergency response teams to rescue motorists with boats.

Winter weather watches and warnings remained in place along hundreds of miles from the Mid-Atlantic to northern Maine.

'Bomb cyclone' winter storm hits the East Coast High winds and snow usher in the first major winter storm of 2018. Brrrr!

Forecasters offered little respite from the cold weather for the weekend, predicting a brutal blast of new arctic air from Canada that could break records in more than two dozen cities and bring wind chills as low as 40 degrees below zero

Snow was on the ground in every state along the Eastern Seaboard on Thursday morning, from Florida to Maine, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

New York's JFK International Airport was shut down for several hours into the evening because of the bad weather. New York's LaGuardia Airport announced that more than 90% of its flights Thursday would be canceled because of the storm.

Nationwide, about 4,900 flights were canceled as of early Thursday, FlightAware reported. And 77,000 customers were without power in several states, CBS News said.

Facing the brunt of the storm, Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts warned of possible lengthy and widespread power outages as winds make it almost impossible for crews to work.

Maine has seen the most tidal flooding in 40 years. The high tide in Portland on Thursday was 13.79 feet, nearly reaching the 14.17 foot mark reported during the Blizzard of 1978.

New Hampshire’s Seacoast area saw flooding in streets and people’s basements.

More than 5,500 homes and businesses lost power Thursday morning in Provincetown, Mass., on the outermost tip of Cape Cod, which was being lashed with hurricane-force wind gusts, the Eversource electric utility said. Much of that power was restored by early afternoon.

Gusts of up to 76 mph and 75 mph were reported Thursday on Nantucket and Cape Cod, respectively.

The National Weather Service said on Twitter it’s getting “inundated” with reports of coastal flooding all along the eastern coast of Massachusetts.

“Some of the worst in recent history being observed in Boston,” the service said.

The cold stretched all the way south to Florida, where stunned iguanas were reported dropping out of trees as temperatures dipped below 40 degrees.

In Connecticut, Gov. Dannel Malloy said more than 100 warming centers were open in 34 towns. Malloy says the state has 634 state plow trucks and 250 contractors working to clear the highways.

The storm strengthened at an astonishing rate since Wednesday, surpassing the meteorological criteria to be considered a so-called “bomb cyclone," according to the Capital Weather Gang.

Bombogenesis is said to occur when a storm's central barometric pressure drops at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. (A millibar is a way of measuring pressure.) The lower the pressure, the more powerful the storm.

This storm’s pressure dropped 53 millibars in 21 hours, Weather Channel meteorologist Jon Erdman said, which ranks it among the most explosive East Coast storms ever seen.

What is a 'bomb cyclone'? Whether you call it a "snow hurricane" or "bombogenesis", this storm packs a punch worthy of its namesake.

The heaviest snow was falling in Delaware and New Jersey on Thursday. The National Weather Service said Atlantic City, N.J., could get up to 18 inches of snow.

Wind gusts of 60-70 mph, strong enough to cause downed trees and power lines, were predicted in coastal New Jersey, eastern Long Island, N.Y., and coastal New England.

Blizzard warnings were in effect for coastal areas of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

The storm caps a week of brutal cold across the nation that has left at least 17 people dead. Authorities in North Carolina say two men died Wednesday night when their pickup truck overturned into a creek in Moore County, southwest of the Raleigh-Durham area.

And authorities say the fatal accident involving a car and a commuter train in Pennsylvania happened during extreme snow conditions.

A spokeswoman for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority says none of the passengers on board the West Trenton line train were injured. The train was about 20 miles north of downtown Philadelphia.

Authorities in Vineland, N.J. reported that a 57-year-old man was found dead Thursday morning, apparently from exposure to the bitter temperatures.

In Boston, where forecasters predicted 12 to 19 inches of snow, Mayor Marty Walsh announced that public schools would be closed on Thursday. New York City schools were also closed, as were schools in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

As the storm gripped the East Coast, governors in New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and Georgia all declared a state of emergency in their states.

Good morning, Mr. Bomb Cyclone. pic.twitter.com/PnrNgYfjaB — Capital Weather Gang (@capitalweather) January 4, 2018

This new wave of cold weather this weekend will be close to the level of cold experienced at the end of 2017 and start of 2018 in the Midwest, central Appalachians and interior South, according to forecasters.

AccuWeather forecasts that temperatures may reach their lowest point of the season so far in coastal areas of the Northeast, such as Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Boston.

At least 28 major cities across New England, eastern New York and the Mid-Atlantic states will have record low temperatures by dawn on Sunday, the National Weather Service said.

Contributing: The Associated Press