A winter storm called Nemo is expected to hit the Northeast part of the U.S. this afternoon and could leave behind a couple of feet of snow while whipping the region with winds in the 20 to 30 mile per hour range. The National Weather Service says, in all caps, that we should anticipate power outages -- and that means cell tower overload and broadband outages as well:

HEAVY SNOW AND WINDS WILL MAKE FOR DANGEROUS DRIVING CONDITIONS WITH VISIBILITIES NEAR ZERO IN WHITE-OUT CONDITIONS. IN ADDITION... SOME TREE LIMBS WILL BE DOWNED... CAUSING SCATTERED POWER OUTAGES.

The weight of snow is tough on building roofs, outside equipment, and powerlines. Flight cancellations are piling up as more than 3,000 flights have been scrapped today alone by the nation's airlines. Also, the driving conditions will keep businesses from operating as they normally would. But what other dangers do folks see threatening communications networks when there's a large, sustained snowfall? Customer service phone queues will get longer. Repairs will be harder to make and will take longer to assess. What troubles have you seen in past snowfalls and how did you or your CSP do in fixing things? For more

• New York's Blizzard Warning
• Did Hurricane Sandy Make the Case for Better Cell Backup?

— Phil Harvey, Editor-in-Chief, Light Reading