Here in State College, we have all encountered a recent snow storm; however, there were others that have gotten it much worse then we have.  Many locations all along the East coast were really hit hard by this storm like Philadelphia, New York, the Jersey Shores.  You may be thinking its just a snow storm but this storm has had serious effects.  According to the New York Times, Storm Jonas has caused extreme flooding in coastal areas as well as thousands without power.  There were even 28 storm related deaths!  Gov. Terry McAuliffe of Virginia said there was help coming all the way from Connecticut to help clean up.  Their were wind gusts up to 75 mph down in Dewy Beach Delaware.  This was a storm of record breaking accumulations.  Among the 28 deaths, most of them caused by driving in icy conditions, others while they were trying to shovel and their age didn’t permit them to exert that much physical energy.  There were also several deaths from Carbon Monoxide poisoning.  A woman and her young infant were killed as they sat in their car with the engine running.  The snow was covering the exhaust tip of the car.

I think that we should be more prepared for storms like Jonas because this is common.  There is simply no way to avoid them but we can better prepare for these storms as well has put more efforts into the equipment to clear the streets/sidewalks.  I think that Penn Dot as well as all other state and municipalities have done all they can with the resources they were given to clean up the streets but it simply wasn’t enough.  In the future, I hope leaders and officials take these storms more serious than they did for this one.

Winter storms gather their energy from the clash of two air masses of different temperatures and moisture levels. Winter storms usually form when an air mass of cold, dry, Canadian air moves south and interacts with a warm, moist air mass moving north from the Gulf of Mexico.  I don’t know what the future holds for us.  Our climate is changing so at this point, anything could be possible.  Thank fully we have scientist that study weather patterns so we can know well in advance when the next storm is coming.

References:

• Barron, James, and Sarah Maslin Nir. “Hit by Blizzard, Northeast Starts to Burrow Its Way Out.” The New York Times. The New York Times, 24 Jan. 2016. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/25/nyregion/east-coast-blizzard-2016.html?hp&clickSource=story-heading&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0&module=CloseSlideshow&region=SlideShowTopBar&version=EndSlate&action=click&contentCollection=N.Y.%20%2F%20Region&pgtype=imageslidesw
• “Weather Wiz Kids Weather Information for Kids.” Weather Wiz Kids Weather Information for Kids. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.                  http://www.weatherwizkids.com/weather-winter-storms.htm