WGNO

Plane skids off runway as ice and snow pummel the Northeast

A nasty mix of freezing rain, snow and widespread ice is bombarding much of Connecticut and Massachusetts on Wednesday, forecasters said.

A nasty mix of freezing rain, snow and widespread ice is bombarding much of Connecticut and Massachusetts on Wednesday, forecasters said.

The most important concern is icing, the National Weather Service in Boston said. With temperatures warming Wednesday afternoon, those coastal states will likely switch from snow to freezing rain, resulting in ice accumulation.

“Anticipate very slippery conditions on untreated surfaces,” especially during the evening commute, the weather service said.

Further inland, upstate New Yorkers have a different problem to worry about.

“It will stay all snow for interior sections of the Northeast, with over a foot of snow on the way to parts of upstate New York and New England,’ CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen said.

More than 800 flights have already been canceled Wednesday, including many at Boston, New York and Baltimore airports.

Lilith Christiansen was on a plane at the Baltimore/Washington international airport, ready to go on vacation in Jamaica, when her plans slid off course.

“We were a little delayed for de-icing and the weather hold. Then we started to take off, hit a patch of ice and skidded off the runway,” she said. “It was really jerky and swervy. Then we came to an abrupt halt.”

No injuries were reported, Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport said.

While the Northeast gets frigid weather, the Southeast gets a deluge.

Strong storms are tearing across the region Wednesday. While rain is a welcome gift to drought-stricken Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, those states might see too much rain and end up with flooding.