美国有线新闻 CNN 冬季风暴侵袭美国 创下降雪纪录

 

Officially we are only one week into fall in the Northern Hemisphere¹. But a winter storm has descended² over the Rocky Mountains.

North America's longest range stretches roughly 3,000 miles from western Canada all the way down to New Mexico. It's in the northern United States that a storm system is bringing huge amounts of snow. And forecasters say if their predictions pan out this could break records. And it already has in some parts of Montana.

In Great Falls for example, 9.7 inches of snow fell on Saturday. The previous record was only 3.6 inches and that was set in 1954. But that's only part of the story. Other areas of the state have gotten as much as three feet of snow. The governor has declared a state of emergency to s?peed up help to those who need it — dangerous road conditions, fallen trees and power lines, homes without electricity when people want it for heat. Those are some of the storm's impacts on humans. And a record cold for this time of year also threatened cattle and crops. A CNN meteorologist says it's not unusual for some parts of Montana to get snow in September. What's shocking this time around is the amount of it.

The last time a winter storm struck with this much snow this early was in 1934. That was the record. And this system could beat it. It's not just bringing a whitened winter wonderland. The gusts³ of wind that were blasting⁴ Montana Sunday were expected to be between 35 to 45 miles per hour. Add that to blowing snow, and you have white out, near blizzard⁵ conditions according to the National Weather Service. It expects that from Montana, the storm is expected to move eastward⁶ over the northern plain states and the U.S.-Canada border. And the cold it leaves behind is expected to be 15 to 30 degrees below average in the U.S. northwest, though above average temperatures are expected to stay in place from other parts of the plains to the U.S. east coast.

1 hemisphere   

n.半球，半球地图

参考例句：

• This animal is to be found only in the Southern Hemisphere.这种动物只有在南半球才能找到。
• In most people,the left hemisphere is bigger than the right.多数人的左脑比右脑大。

2 descended   

a.为...后裔的，出身于...的

参考例句：

• A mood of melancholy descended on us. 一种悲伤的情绪袭上我们的心头。
• The path descended the hill in a series of zigzags. 小路呈连续的之字形顺着山坡蜿蜒而下。

3 gusts   

一阵强风( gust的名词复数 )； （怒、笑等的）爆发； （感情的）迸发； 发作

参考例句：

• Her profuse skirt bosomed out with the gusts. 她的宽大的裙子被风吹得鼓鼓的。
• Turbulence is defined as a series of irregular gusts. 紊流定义为一组无规则的突风。

4 blasting   

n.爆破（作业）v.（用炸药）炸毁( blast的现在分词 )；狠打；发出刺耳的高音；向…猛吹，（用水）向…喷射

参考例句：

• The road is closed because of blasting. 这条道路由于有爆破作业而被关闭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Danger! Blasting in progress! 危险，正在放炮！ 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 blizzard   

n.暴风雪

参考例句：

• The blizzard struck while we were still on the mountain.我们还在山上的时候暴风雪就袭来了。
• You'll have to stay here until the blizzard blows itself off.你得等暴风雪停了再走。

6 eastward   

adv.向东；adj.向东的；n.东方，东部

参考例句：

• The river here tends eastward.这条河从这里向东流。
• The crowd is heading eastward,believing that they can find gold there.人群正在向东移去，他们认为在那里可以找到黄金。