US East Coast Hit by More Wicked Weather

This winter. Yikes.

Millions of commuters in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic faced a nightmare commute Wednesday morning thanks to bitterly cold temperatures, high winds and the aftermath of heavy snowfall.

The snowfall ended south of Boston by 4 a.m. Wednesday, according to The Weather Channel. But in New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C, where the weather had caused havoc on the Tuesday evening commute, wind chills had plummeted well below zero.

The temperature in all three cities was between 9 and 12 degrees -- with wind chills as low as minus 7 in Washington, D.C. Wind gusts across the region will get up to 33 mph, the National Weather Service reported.

Residents of the region faced the prospect of digging themselves out of some heavy snowfall, the heaviest fell in Manalapan, N.J., which got 15.5 inches. A foot fell in New York City and 13.5 inches in Philadelphia on Tuesday.

...It was not only people on the ground subjected to winter misery: Almost 1,400 flights coming into or out of the U.S. on Wednesday had been canceled by 4 a.m.

...The freezing temperatures are set to continue until the weekend.

This is the sort of weather we're just getting past, and everyone dealing with this stuff on the East Coast has my profound sympathies.

This sort of weather is tough for everyone, but especially for people who don't have the resources to keep warm and for people with physical disabilities that make snow removal difficult. There are a whole lot of folks who are mobile enough to be independent until they're tasked with removing hundreds of pounds of snow just to access their cars. And in areas where there's no public transportation, that can leave people without help housebound for a long while.

It's a good time to be neighborly, if you're able-bodied and have the time to check in on vulnerable neighbors.