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U.S. NEWS Saturday 9 May 2020
Polar vortex could bring rare May snow, low temps to U.S. East

By MARK PRATT (13 centimeters) of snow
Associated Press was recorded on May 11,
BOSTON (AP) — The north- 1945. Some parts of north-
eastern U.S. is about to get ern Vermont were expect-
a cold spring farewell from ed to get a mix of rain and
winter's bad boy, the polar snow early Friday morning.
vortex, which could bring More snow showers were
rare May snowfall and re- forecast for Friday night
cord-low temperatures to and Saturday morning.
some areas over the Moth- The forecast didn't surprise
er's Day weekend, fore- Rachel Kane, owner of Pe-
casters say. rennial Pleasures Nursery
Usually the polar vortex is a in East Hardwick, who said
batch of cold air that stays snow on Mother's Day isn't
trapped in the Arctic all uncommon in that area.
winter, but a couple times "Up in this part of the state
during the season, it wan- it's happened frequently
ders south and brings bone- enough that we never put
chilling cold and snow to up our shade cloth until
Canada and parts of the A dusting of snow covers tree branches in Stowe, Vt., on Tuesday May 5, 2020. getting close to Memorial
United States. This year the Associated Press Day," she said, laughing.
polar vortex stayed put, Winter-like weather is bad
and the East had an unusu- Service in Norton, Massa- Upstate New York could to be a pretty good dip in news for Massachusetts
ally mild cold season. chusetts, said Thursday. see an inch of snow, and the jet stream." golf courses, which were al-
Around this time of year, Forecasts called for per- further down in New York In northern New England, lowed to reopen Thursday
the polar vortex breaks up, haps as much as 2 inches City and the Hudson River the greatest chance for after being forced closed
but this breakup is a bit dif- (5 centimeters) of snow in valley is likely to see mostly snowfall accumulations by the state because of the
ferent, said Judah Cohen, the Berkshire Mountains in rain, according to Hunt- this weekend is across the coronavirus pandemic.
a winter storm expert for At- western Massachusetts on er Tubbs at the National higher elevations, in New "Everything is against us,
mospheric Environmental Friday into Saturday; an Weather Service in Gray, Hampshire's White Moun- absolutely," said Therese
Research, a commercial inch or so on grassy areas Maine. tains and in Coos County, Barry, one of the owners at
firm outside Boston. of central Massachusetts, Temperatures may plum- and in northwestern Maine, the Bungay Brook Club in
"The polar vortex didn't do southern New Hampshire met to record lows. The Tubbs said. Sunday tem- Bellingham.
much the whole winter, but and western Connecticut; May 9 record low in Bos- peratures likely won't get "We're a weather driven
on the way out I guess it kind and rain with a few flakes ton is 35 degrees, also in out of the 30s in the north, business," she continued.
of sent a message: Just be- possible in the Boston area, 1977. Freeze warnings are with 40s elsewhere. "But to have this happen
cause I didn't do much this he said. in place for parts of Penn- "It's definitely not too com- the minute we are open is
winter, don't think I can't," Massachusetts hasn't had sylvania, Tubbs said, with mon to be getting snow this quite unbelievable."
Cohen said Thursday. measurable snow in May freeze watches stretching late in the season. But this The unusual goodbye is
A low pressure system off since 2002, when 2 to 3 into New Jersey and as far will be a pretty impressive splitting the United States.
the coast of southern New inches (5 to 8 centimeters) south as Maryland. pattern shift," he said. It'll be unseasonably cold
England is pulling cold air fell in the Berkshires. There "Definitely below average He said records show snow- from the Great Lakes east
down from the north, Alan hasn't been measurable temperatures for pret- fall in May in Maine and and record warm from
Dunham, a meteorologist May snowfall in Boston ty much the whole East New Hampshire just a few the Rockies west, Cohen
with the National Weather since 1977, Dunham said. Coast," he said. "It's going times. In Portland, 5 inches said.q
Nearly 1 in 5 US kids are obese, according to latest data

By MIKE STOBBE also has been trending up- considered statistically sig-
AP Medical Writer ward, but childhood obe- nificant, meaning there's a
NEW YORK (AP) — Nearly sity is especially worrisome mathematical chance the
1 in 5 U.S. kids are obese, because it can put kids on rates didn't truly rise.
according to the latest na- track for problems like dia- But it follows an upward
tional data. betes and heart disease, trend since 2005-2006,
The news is disappoint- she said. when 15.4% of U.S. kids
ing, given that programs The Centers for Disease were obese.
across the country have Control and Prevention The percentage of kids
for years been trying to re- findings come from a who are severely obese re-
duce childhood obesity, gold-standard health sur- mains at about 6%, where
one expert said. vey that measures partici- it's been for several years,
"We really were expect- pants' height and weight. the CDC found.
ing and hoping to see the The latest data come from A range of factors contrib- This May 31, 2012 file photo shows a display of various size cups
and sugar cubes at a news conference at New York's City Hall.
trends decrease," said Dr. surveys done in 2017 and ute to childhood obesity, Associated Press
Tannaz Moin, a UCLA obe- 2018, when more than including eating a lot of
sity researcher. 2,800 U.S. children partici- processed foods and sug- Moin said. ing years, especially if this
Obesity — which means pated. ary beverages, and a lack "Kids for the most part are pandemic continues the
not merely overweight, It found 19.3% of kids ages of physical exercise. at home, and not at school way it is."
but seriously overweight 2 to 19 were obese. That's The current coronavirus with recess, and getting The CDC quietly released
— is one of the nation's up slightly from the 18.5% crisis — with school clos- even less (physical) activ- the findings last month in
leading public health in the 2015-2016 national ings and stay-at-home or- ity," she said. "We may see an infographic in the back
problems. Adult obesity survey. The increase isn't ders — can't be helping, worse trends in the com- of one of its publications.q