Snowstorm Hits Northeast, Snarls Traffic
By WAYNE PARRY, Associated Press Writer
NEWARK, N.J. – The second snowstorm to hit the East Coast in less than a week tied up Tuesday morning commuter traffic, shut down hundreds of schools from North Carolina to Maine and canceled airline flights.
The storm dumped moderate to heavy snow along the coast and inland, with just over a foot in southeastern Massachusetts and parts of Maine.
Snow lingered across parts of the region Tuesday, with blustery wind in some areas, and many highways were slippery with packed snow or slush during the morning rush hour.
“It’s horrible out there,” Massachusetts State Trooper Jonathan Brown said Tuesday morning at Shelburne Falls, in the foothills of the Berkshires.
By Tuesday, Boston had received 78.1 inches of snow this season, compared with an average annual snowfall of about 42 inches. The record is 107.6 inches, set in 1995-1996.
Along with highways, air travel also was affected by the storm.
Boston‘s Logan Airport had two runways open Tuesday morning but at least 53 inbound flights and 90 outbound flights had been canceled, airport spokesman Phil Orlandella said. A number of flights were canceled at Maine‘s Portland International Jetport.
In the New York metropolitan area, spokesman Steve Coleman said LaGuardia Airport was hardest hit with 56 departures and 28 arrivals canceled Tuesday, along with delays up to an hour on other flights. Kennedy Airport reported minimal delays and a handful of cancelations, and airlines at Newark called off 24 departures and 28 arrivals. The three airports had canceled hundreds of flights during the height of the storm Monday.
Hundreds of businesses and schools closed for the day Tuesday in Maine, and state government workers in Augusta were told to stay home. Downtown Portland seemed like a ghost town because a parking ban in effect until noon left streets deserted.
The combination of wind, wet snow and ice also caused power outages. The utility NStar said about 3,800 customers were blacked out in eastern Massachusetts. Nearly 12,000 homes and businesses went dark in North Carolina but more than half were back in service Tuesday, utility officials said. Others without power in scattered areas from West Virginia to Maine.
The storm was a big change of pace for Sean and Michele Joplin and their two children, who recently moved from South Carolina to western North Carolina‘s mountainous Henderson County.
“It was our first time sledding and it was really fun,” Michele Joplin said.
“This is sort of the winter we haven’t been having,” said Brad Moretz, general manager of Appalachian Ski Mountain in North Carolina. “March will exceed our expectations. This weekend we’ll have good weather and good slope conditions.”
After a winter marked by stretches of uncommonly warm weather, a cold and wet pattern has established itself in the Northeast, said New Jersey state climatologist David Robinson. More precipitation is possible by the weekend, although it is likely to fall as rain, forecasters said.
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