Northeast snow grounds flights, ices roads

Keishard Hatcher, 6, left, helps his father Montez Gates, 29, shovel in front of their Monica Street home in Detroit after heavy snows covered the area Sunday Dec. 15, 2013. A pre-winter snowstorm continues to grip parts of Michigan, with accumulations already topping 9 inches in the state's southeastern corner. (AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Mandi Wright)  DETROIT NEWS OUT;  NO SALES
Keishard Hatcher, 6, left, helps his father Montez Gates, 29, shovel in front of their Monica Street home in Detroit after heavy snows covered the area Sunday Dec. 15, 2013. A pre-winter snowstorm continues to grip parts of Michigan, with accumulations already topping 9 inches in the state's southeastern corner. (AP Photo/Detroit Free Press, Mandi Wright) DETROIT NEWS OUT; NO SALES

HARTFORD, Conn. - A weekend storm that dumped a foot or more of snow in parts of the Northeast made ski-area operators happy, but travelers were forced to deal with slippery roads and flight cancellations Sunday.

Molly Taaffe, 23, was on the slopes at Loon Mountain in Lincoln, N.H., by 8 a.m. for her 10th day of skiing this season. She said it was her best outing yet.

“There’s nothing like powder,” she said. “It’s incredible. It’s really busy; everyone’s so excited. You don’t get a lot of days like this on the East Coast, so when you do everyone’s psyched.”

Snowfall in the region ranged from 2 to 8 inches in Connecticut and Rhode Island to almost 11 inches in northern Massachusetts and nearly 17 inches on Maine’s southern coast, according to the National Weather Service.

“We term it a kind of low end nor’easter,” said Bill Simpson, a meteorologist for the Weather Service. “It’s a pretty typical winter storm.”

Some Christmas shoppers saw the storm as an opportunity to avoid crowds Sunday morning.

“It is slippery, and no one is out,” said Bruce Long of Boston, who was shopping in Newton, Mass. “They’re warning people that if you have to get out, do it now because later it’s going to get cold. This is all going to turn to ice, and it will be a mess.”

Car accidents were reported across the region, including a crash in central Pennsylvania that killed two people late Saturday morning. Police told The Altoona Mirror that an SUV was traveling too fast for weather conditions when it lost control and slid into the path of an oncoming pickup. The two people in the SUV died, and the truck’s driver was seriously injured.

In Indiana, a man married less than seven hours, who was returning to a hotel after his wedding reception, was killed along with a stranded motorist he stopped to help in the snow when they were struck by several vehicles, authorities said.

William “Riley” Knight, 49, of Crown Point, Ind., was driving with his wife, Nikki, about 11:45 p.m. Saturday when they saw a woman who had slid off the road in the snow near Crown Point.

He pulled his truck into a nearby driveway, and Nikki Knight waited inside while he went out to help Linda Darlington, 42, of Crown Point. They were standing by the side of the road when they were struck by one vehicle, and then two more, the Lake County sheriff’s office said.

William Knight and Darlington were pronounced dead at the scene early Sunday.

Airports were working to get back to normal after hundreds of flight cancellations. Many Sunday-morning flights at Logan International Airport in Boston and other airports in the region were canceled, but most afternoon flights were listed as on time.

“There weren’t any lines, and passenger flow in the terminals was light to moderate,” said Miraj Berry, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan International Airport. “We are open, but it’s very important that passengers check with their airlines before coming to the airport.”

Flights in the New York City area, which received significant snowfall totals, were taking off on schedule Sunday.

New York City’s Central Park Zoo recorded 6 inches of snow Saturday, while Westchester County in suburban New York netted 7.5 inches. The snow turned to rain in the metropolitan area early Sunday and left behind a coating of ice, resulting in slick sidewalks and roadways.

In Connecticut, Angel DeJesus and John Rosario began clearing snow at apartment complexes on Hartford’s south end about 5 a.m. Sunday. Freezing rain was falling early in the morning, making the use of snow blowers more difficult, said DeJesus, a manager for Carabetta Management.

Skiers and snowboarders throughout New England rejoiced in the cold, snowy weather and a chance to get out on the slopes.

Mount Sunapee ski area in Newbury, N.H., got 13 inches of snow and a big skier turnout Sunday morning, marketing director Bruce McCloy said.

Utility companies reported only scattered power failures in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Information for this article was contributed by Holly Ramer and staff members of The Associated Press.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 12/16/2013

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