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Snowfall hits the Mid-Atlantic, dropping more than a foot in some areas

A snowman sits on the Mall near the U.S. Capitol building after a winter storm over the capital region on Monday.
Pablo Porciuncula
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AFP via Getty Images
A snowman sits on the Mall near the U.S. Capitol building after a winter storm over the capital region on Monday.

Updated January 3, 2022 at 6:36 PM ET

A major winter storm that dumped more than a foot of snow across parts of the Mid-Atlantic has largely tapered off, though conditions will grow much colder by Monday night and fall well below freezing.

As of late afternoon, parts of Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey and Delaware all saw snowfall totals of more than a foot, with the highest of the day — 15.5 inches — reported in Huntingtown, Md.

Areas in North Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. all saw accumulations of more than 7 inches. Snow also fell in Kentucky and Pennsylvania.

Visitors from France enjoy the scenery as a winter storm delivers heavy snow to the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Monday.
J. Scott Applewhite / AP
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AP
Visitors from France enjoy the scenery as a winter storm delivers heavy snow to the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Monday.

Federal buildings were closed on Monday in the Washington, D.C., area, which was also under a local snow emergency. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency for five counties in the southern part of the state.

People further south also woke up to some snow on Monday, from central and north Alabama to the Florida panhandle.

"Well how's this for a temperature change? From 75 degrees at 3 in the afternoon to snow at 3 am," the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said in describinga video captured by deputies of snow falling early Monday morning in the Sunshine State.

The NWS had predicted that power outages would be likely as a result of heavy snow accumulating on power lines in the Mid-Atlantic.

A man from New Orleans visiting Washington, D.C., takes a selfie during a snowstorm in front of the White House on Monday. A winter storm is bringing heavy snow to the Mid-Atlantic region on Monday.
Roberto Schmidt / AFP/Getty Images
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AFP/Getty Images
A man from New Orleans visiting Washington, D.C., takes a selfie during a snowstorm in front of the White House on Monday. A winter storm brought heavy snow to the Mid-Atlantic region on Monday.

As of Monday evening, residents of Virginia were suffering from the most outages of any state, with more than 400,000 customers out. In North Carolina, nearly 70,000 were without electricity while Maryland had 57,000 customers out, according to PowerOutage.us.

Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina also each had more than 25,000 customers without power.

Some 3,000 U.S. flights were canceled on Monday, the website FlightAware said. Washington's Reagan National Airport was under a Federal Aviation Administration order to ground incoming flights as of midday, with more than 350 departures and 330 incoming flights canceled. Virginia's Dulles Airport and airports in Baltimore and Richmond, Va., also saw a significant number of flights canceled.

People walking or driving outside should be careful, as temperatures will fall below freezing across the Mid-Atlantic on Monday night. "Untreated or poorly treated pavement is very likely to become icy tonight after sunset, and slush is likely to freeze solid," the National Weather Service said.


An earlier version of this story originally appeared in the Morning Edition live blog

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James Doubek is an associate editor and reporter for NPR. He frequently covers breaking news for NPR.org and NPR's hourly newscast. In 2018, he reported feature stories for NPR's business desk on topics including electric scooters, cryptocurrency, and small business owners who lost out when Amazon made a deal with Apple.