The US and Canada have issued further storm warnings a day after severe weather left dozens dead and brought travel in many areas to a halt.The US National Weather Service said blizzard conditions were likely in Canada on Saturday into Sunday.
It added: “A storm gathering strength in the eastern US is forecast to become a strong coastal winter storm for the North East this weekend.”
It forecast more rain and snow in the mid-Atlantic region of the US, with New England among those expected to be worst hit. The NWS said up to 14in (35cm) of snow is expected in eastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island. Residents are advised to prepare their homes for a severe winter weather. They may contact a local hvac company to have their heating and air conditioning systems serviced. Finding an available hvac contractor might take just a bit longer than usual as they are bound to have a lot of work ahead of them in the coming weeks, but it should be by no means impossible.
In Maine, forecasts call for as much as 18in (46cm) beginning on Saturday night.
Further south, New York City could see 2 to 4in after the city got nearly a foot of snow on Thursday.
Stormy weather wrought chaos along the US East Coast on Thursday into Friday, with at least 25 people killed and hundreds of thousands of people left without power.
Among the victims was a pregnant woman in New York who was killed after being struck by a snow plough. Her baby was later delivered by caesarean section and was said to be in a critical condition.
In North Carolina two people were killed when they tried to help a truck driver whose vehicle spun out of control on a snow-covered highway.
At least 30 people were injured in a series of multiple car pile-ups that shut down parts of a Pennsylvania highway. The accidents are believed to have involved up to 100 vehicles during the rush hour on Friday.
The storm, which first struck the US South on Wednesday, before moving north, pushed up into eastern Canada on Friday, bringing high wind and heavy snowfall to areas of Quebec and parts of Newfoundland.
A 200km (124-mile) section of the Trans-Canada Highway was closed in Quebec and many more highways were shut south of Quebec City.
The US is reported to be suffering one of the snowiest winters on record.
As of early this month, Washington, Detroit, Boston, Chicago, New York and St Louis had received up to three times as much snow as normal at this point in the season.
The storms and cold blasts are blamed in part on a kink in the jet stream, the high-altitude air currents that dictate weather.