WASHINGTON: The eastern United States braced for an arctic onslaught on Monday, as forecasters predicted another blast of snow and cold in what already has been a merciless winter.

As many as 50 million people were in the path of the glacial weather, which will see temperatures far more frigid than normal, the National Weather Service warned.

“Numerous record low temperatures are expe­cted!” the NWS said in a bulletin early on Monday.

Snowfall amounts of six to 12 inches are anticipated in much of the mid-Atlantic, which includes Washington DC as well as New York City some 200 miles to the north.

US forecasters said the storm will buffet a wide swath of the eastern United States with snow, gale-force winds and brutal cold.Unusually frigid cold was expected as far south as the Carolinas, which most years enjoy temperate winters with temperatures that seldom dip much below freezing.

The unusually cold weather is forecast to continue through much of the upcoming week for the eastern US, with temperature anomalies on the order of 20 to 30 degrees below average.

Published in Dawn February 17th , 2015

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