East and West coast of U.S. hit by near simultaneous winter storms

December17, 2012 – SEATTLE – Up to 12 inches of further snowfall is forecast for parts of northern New England – and a second wintry storm is crossing the U.S. in its wake, according to Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth. The current snowfall in northern New York state and New England will continue through Tuesday night and into Wednesday, with as much as 15 inches possible in some areas. Meanwhile, another cross-country storm – Winter Storm Draco – was expected to bring heavy snow to the Northwest on Monday. The higher elevations of the Cascades will see as much as 2 to 3 feet of snow above 7000 ft, Weather.com reported, with significant accumulations below 3000 ft. The National Weather Service said the probability of “large amounts of snow remains high across the majority of windward facing slopes of the Pacific Northwest and portions of the Northern Rockies.” King5.com reported that the storm is expected to bring high winds to Western Washington and whiteout conditions to the west slopes of the Cascades and passes. The system is expected to move to the Southwest and Rockies Tuesday and Wednesday before bringing snow to the eastern half of the country later Wednesday through Friday. Roth added there would likely be a lake-effect snow threat behind the storm on Thursday and Friday. –NBC

Freezing temps grip Kyrgyz capital: Residents of the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek have no gas to heat their homes amid arctic temperatures, authorities said Sunday. Some districts also lack electric power at a time when the mercury has dipped to minus 20 degrees Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit), they said. Gas supplies have been cut off from neighboring Kazakhstan, which relies on deliveries from another central Asian neighbor, Uzbekistan, itself unable to extract the fuel because of the freezing weather. Lacking gas, Bishkek residents have begun using more electricity, which has led to outages in parts of the city, authorities said. Weather forecasters warn that temperatures could drop to -24 Celsius (-11 Fahrenheit) in the region. –TD