Winter Storm Juno surged toward the East Coast earlier this week, resulting in mass panic and unprecedented volumes of snow dumped into the Atlantic Ocean. The storm, a “potentially historic” and “fatal” blizzard, as publicized by the Weather Channel, placed approximately 28 million people in the so-called “danger-zone.” Seven states along the Eastern Seaboard from New Jersey to Maine were issued blizzard warnings and urged to prepare for the worst before Juno’s onset Monday night.
Following New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s warning to CNN on Monday morning, a traffic ban was enacted in 13 state counties. Public transportation was halted indefinitely and road space was reserved exclusively for emergency vehicles beginning at 11 pm Monday night in New York City. Overall, 15% of northeastern flights were grounded Tuesday according to USA Today. Mayors of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia each urged their residents to remain indoors for the duration of the storm, said CNN.
But, in an event similar to the Hurricane Irene incident of 2011, Juno made a last-minute turn; she instead smacked the uninhabited and irrelevant Atlantic approximately 30 miles off the coast, according to the National Weather Service.
Although the ubiquitously rumored “up to three feet” of snow made no appearance in New York City— which received only a maximum of 10 inches by National Weather Service measurements— Juno did strike hard further North, primarily in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Western Massachusetts clinched the most boastful statistics, with some cities citing nearly three feet of snowfall. The storm still fell short, however, to the significantly less-hyped Blizzard Nemo of 2013 in Boston by just an inch, as measured by the Weather Channel. Residents along the coastline appeared unfazed by the overall snowstorm, preferring to organize large-scale snowball fights (Portsmouth, NH) and urban nordic skiing (Boston). “Luckily it wasn’t too heavy, so we took to the streets with our skis and were able to binge-watch Netflix since not many lost power,” said Boston Resident Lexi Beckwith ’14. “As always, it proved to be a great source of Snapchat gold.” Better luck next time, Juno!