美国有线新闻 CNN 美国多地遭遇强暴风雪 影响6000万民众（在线收听）

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Hey. I'm Carl Azuz for CNN 10. And Fridays are awesome — unless you're in the U.S. Northeast and you hate snow.

The region is dealing with the affects of what could be the most significant storm of this winter. When the snow emergency is declared in places like Boston, Massachusetts, you know the weather is bad. Blizzard conditions, whiteouts, more than 1,600 flight cancellations, the closure of the largest school district in the United States, and the warnings to people not to leave their homes except in an emergency. This is all because of a storm system that's affected more than 60 million people in some way. That's roughly one-fifth of America's population.

It came on suddenly. Wednesday's temperature at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport was 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Yesterday, it was 25, sinking to a low of 18 overnight, and it came with snow.

Forecasters predicted eight to 12 inches in New York, with wind gusts of 50 miles per hour. Boston was expected to get 12 to 15 inches of snow.

And yesterday, in Massachusetts and Connecticut — thundersnow. Pretty unusual event when a winter snowfall brings the thunder.

The system was moving out of New York by last night, but it was expected to impact Boston through the weekend. National Weather Service doesn't expect the temperature there to get above freezing until Sunday.

Despite the storm's location, though, and despite its affects, it moved from west to east, from land to sea. It's not technically a nor'easter, though some folks were calling it that.

What exactly is the difference?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A nor'easter occurs within the most crowded coast line of the United States, the Northeast, and they can occur any time of year but are most common between the months of September and April. That's when weather conditions are primed for a nor'easter.

You start with a low. It's going to travel from the Southeast to the Northeast and intensify. Nor'easters are strongest around New England as well as the Canadian Maritime Provinces.

Now, we have very warm water in the Gulf of Mexico and all around the coast of Florida, it's going to warm the air above it and that warm air is going to clash with very cold air coming from the north. Now, nor'easters carry winds out of the Northeast at about 58 miles per hour or more. And keep in mind, the wind direction out of the Northeast is what defines a nor'easter.

It's also going to cause beach erosion, as well as coastal flooding and very, very rough ocean conditions.

Now, not all nor'easter have snow, but some of the most memorable ones have dumped lots of it.