The first major snow storm of 2015 has made its presence known in the North East region of the United States this past week. The storm now taking the name “Juno” has caused fair share of havoc to erupt in much of the region.

New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, and many more have faced record breaking conditions as of late and are expecting another wave of brutal snowstorms and record low temperatures in upcoming days.

Many states have shut down all roads and public transportation; Seven have declared a state of emergency. Massachusetts officials declared a statewide travel ban. Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker called the situation “a historic, top-five storm.”

“As a result of these decisions and compliance from the public, we’ve seen far fewer storm related deaths, traffic accidents and traffic jams than previous winter storms of a similar nature,” said National Weather Service Director Louis Uccellini.

Despite such efforts to ensure the safety of the public, one death has been reported. A 17-year-old teen on New York’s Long Island died in a sledding accident 10 p.m. Monday in the town of Huntington, New York, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.

Snowfall totals were up to 32.5 inches in Auburn, Massachusetts, 30.5 inches in Thompson, Connecticut, 28.5 inches in Orient, New York, and 23.3 inches of snow at Boston’s Logan International Airport, with snow continuing to fall. Strong winds and coastal flooding were reported from the coastline of Long Island, New York, to Massachusetts. Wind gusts reached 60-75 mph; Winter storm warnings continue from Long Island to Maine, and blizzard warnings from Rhode Island to Maine.

Many states have begun to lift travel bans and reopen public transportation as the conditions start to lighten. New York City announced it was reopening roads and restarting Staten Island ferry service. According to the MTA, this is the first time the entire New York subway system as well as bridges and tunnels were shut down due to a winter storm. The last subway shutdown was when Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012.

In light of the situation, many residents of storm impacted states have decided to make the best of it. Social media app, Snapchat, has created a feed allowing those in snowstorm states to share their experience through a series of pictures and videos that are then uploaded to the “Snowpacalypse: Juno” feed. This allows everyone with the app to share in the experience.

FSA Connection Questions:

1. According to the article, what does the word havoc mean?

2. What states were effected by the blizzard?

3. What is the main idea of this article?

4. What has happened as a result of the weather conditions?

5. Summarize this article in 2 sentences.