Big Winter Storm Pummels Northeast

BOSTON-Motorists slid off roads Sunday across the Great Lakes states and into New England as a storm already blamed for three deaths cut visibility and iced over highways with a wind-blown brew of snow, sleet and freezing rain.The National Weather Service posted winter storm warnings from Michigan and Indiana all the way to Maine. Around a foot of snow had fallen on parts of the Chicago area and Ann Arbor, Mich., with 10 inches in Vermont. Meteorologists said that 18 inches was possible in northern New England and that there was a chance of 14 inches in parts of Michigan.
"Our biggest advice right now is, stay home," said Maine State Police Sgt. Andrew Donovan. Visibility in the blowing snow was less than 200 yards, and in stronger gusts "if there's a car in front of you, you can't even see it," he said.
Every available plow truck was at work in Vermont, said Reggie Brown, highway department dispatcher in Montpelier."Everybody's out and running," he said.Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey said 1,000 trucks were out clearing snow there Sunday.Snow depths in some places were uncertain. "They can't tell how much because it's blowing so hard," Brown said."I don't mind an inch or two, but this is too much," said Larry Thelen in Ann Arbor.
The storm canceled hundreds of flights at airports in Chicago. In Maine, most of Portland International Jetport's inbound and outbound flights were canceled, said city Transportation Director Jeff Monroe. Many flights were canceled at Buffalo Niagara International Airport and Connecticut's Bradley International.Many churches called off Sunday services because of the hazardous driving conditions."I don't want folks to venture out because we're having church and they feel obligated," the Rev. Glenn Mortimer said after calling off services at Wakefield-Lynnfield United Methodist Church in Wakefield, Mass. He noted that some people still hadn't completely dug out from a storm Thursday that dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of Massachusetts.The storm didn't keep fans away from the New England Patriots vs. New York Jets game at Foxborough, Mass., but they had to shovel off their seats in the stadium. A video of a fire roaring in a fireplace was shown on the scoreboards at both ends of the field.And in Buffalo, N.Y., the weather didn't deter Bills fans who rose early for a bus trip to Cleveland for a game against the Browns."Rain, snow, sleet, whatever, we'll be there," Brian Kras said, boarding a chartered bus at 5:30 a.m.The storm also didn't stand in the way of dedicated Christmas shoppers."The reason we came out in the storm early, early, is that we knew there would be no lines," Michael McGrath, 48, of Boston, said as he stomped along partly shoveled downtown sidewalks."It was true. The stores were empty."Betty Gould and Rocky Castellano drove about 20 miles from Pittsfield, N.H., to Steeplegate Mall in Concord, N.H. Asked whether she considered staying home, Gould said: "Never.""We like the snow," Gould said. "He thinks he's invincible. He has four-wheel drive, studded tires, the whole bit."Instead of church, Paul Milner of Chittenango, N.Y., went to a neighborhood grocery market to stock up."The roads weren't bad. But they say there's more on the way. Guess that shouldn't be any surprise in upstate New York in mid-December," he said.The storm's northerly track meant few major airport problems in Philadelphia, Boston and New York, although New York's Kennedy had two-hour delays. The Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra's annual holiday concert at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark was put back an hour Sunday because the orchestra chose to take a train from Boston instead of a plane, said arts center spokeswoman Shelley Roberts.Slippery roads were blamed for two traffic deaths in Michigan and one in Wisconsin.The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission said the storm had blacked out about 160,000 customers Sunday. Scattered power failures also were reported in Vermont, state officials said.The storm came less than a week after an ice storm blamed for at least 38 deaths, mostly in traffic accidents, in the middle of the country.Thousands of homes and businesses still had no electricity in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.Only about 14,900 Missouri homes and business remained without power Sunday morning, down from about 165,000 on Tuesday, but it could be the end of the week before power is restored statewide, said Duane Nichols, deputy director of the State Emergency Management Agency.
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