Icy air, snow of nor’easter socking East

A morning commuter walks against blowing snow Thursday in Chicago. More than a foot of snow was forecast for some areas in the Northeast overnight Thursday into today, and temperatures were expected to plummet, with some areas seeing highs just above zero, according to the National Weather Service.
A morning commuter walks against blowing snow Thursday in Chicago. More than a foot of snow was forecast for some areas in the Northeast overnight Thursday into today, and temperatures were expected to plummet, with some areas seeing highs just above zero, according to the National Weather Service.

BOSTON - A strong winter storm slammed the Northeast with stiff winds and punishing cold on Thursday, dumping nearly 2 feet of snow in parts of the region and threatening more.

      

The National Weather Service said 21 inches of snow had fallen in Boxford, just north of Boston, by 10:30 CDT Thursday, while other parts of the state had 17 or 18 inches. It said parts of upstate New York had 18 inches.

The weather extended Christmas break for some students while posing the first test for New York’s new mayor and perhaps the last challenge for Boston’s outgoing one.

Some schools in New England and New York closed well ahead of the snow, while cities mobilized plows and salt spreaders, and state offices sent workers home early. Some major highways were ordered shut down overnight.

U.S. airlines canceled more than 2,300 flights nationwide Thursday in advance of the storm, and thousands of others were delayed.

At Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field in Little Rock, two flights were canceled and five were delayed by Thursday afternoon because of the storm.

An airport spokesman said that number likely would rise as the storm’s effects rippled through the nation’s air traffic system.

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AP

A tractor-trailer overturned Thursday on Molly Pitcher Highway south of Chambersburg, Pa., during the year’s first snowstorm. The driver of the truck was not injured in the crash.

“As we go through the evening, we’ll see some other [delays or cancellations] develop,” the spokesman, Shane Carter, said.

While the storm had a direct effect on airports in the northeast, it was indirectly affecting other airports, such as Clinton National, Carter said. Those indirect effects include the re-positioning of aircraft and flight crews requiring mandated rest periods, he said.

In New York, Nathaniel LeCapitaine, 31, was trying to get back home to Superior, Wis., where it was 8 degrees below zero. But he got a text Wednesday night informing him that his flight from Chicago to Duluth, Minn., had been canceled.

So he sat at New York’s LaGuardia airport, waiting for a delayed flight to Chicago, where he would have to wait again. More than 300 flights were canceled at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Thursday.

“It’s a lot of sitting around and waiting, but what can you do?” he said. “It’s bad weather.”

The heavy weather began rolling in just a day after New York Mayor Bill de Blasio was sworn in to lead the nation’s largest city and a few days before Boston Mayor Thomas Menino ends 20 years in office.

Menino announced a parking ban and said schools would be closed today in Boston. Boston’s airport said it would not handle any flights after 8:30 p.m. Thursday.

“What a New Year’s gift, to receive one last snowstorm as mayor,” said Menino, whose successor takes office Monday.

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for Cape Cod, coastal areas north and south of Boston and part of Maine as well as New York’s Long Island.

“We’re going to see a lot of snow and a lot of wind,” forecaster Jason Tuell said. “We’re concerned about whiteout conditions possibly tonight with the blowing and drifting snow.”

De Blasio, who as public advocate in 2010 criticized his predecessor Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his handling of a post-Christmas storm, met with the sanitation commissioner, John Doherty, less than 24 hours after being sworn in as mayor. He said before the storm hit that 1,700 plows and 450 salt spreaders were ready to be on the streets as soon as the snow started falling Thursday night.

“We have to get it right, no question about it,” de Blasio said. “We are focused like a laser on protecting this city and getting everyone ready.

He urged New Yorkers to “get off the streets this evening so Sanitation has the optimal conditions to work.”

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomoof New York declared a state of emergency and ordered several major highways shut down from midnight to 5 a.m. today Other state officials said drivers who ventured onto roads that had been ordered closed could face a misdemeanor charge.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said it was planning to salt train platforms and send out “de-icers” and “snow and ice-busting equipment” to keep outdoor subway tracks,switches and third rails clear as the snow fell.

Sidney Alvarez, a spokesman for Consolidated Edison in New York, said the utility was expecting the snow to be powdery rather than wet and heavy, “but with any type of snow, you’re looking at extra weight on branches that can snap and bring power lines down.”

Snow began falling overnight Wednesday in parts of New England and New York state, but the brunt of the storm didn’t hit until Thursday evening. Forecasters said temperatures would plummet overnight.

“It’s a nor’easter,” said Tim Morrin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service on Long Island. “It will be a snowstorm across the entire area.”

Efforts were underway to get homeless people off the streets of New York City and Boston on Thursday evening. Outreach teams in New York were looking for people who needed beds in shelters.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick said National Guard members and state police were on standby for any high-tide flooding overnight or today in vulnerable coastal areas, but no mandatory evacuations had been ordered Thursday night.

Patrick ordered state offices to shut at 3 p.m. Thursday, citing “dangerous” cold, and said they would remain closed today.

The snow will be followed by a blast of frigid air that will drive temperatures down, said Kim Buttrick, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Taunton, Mass. Readings across southern New England will range from zero to minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit, she said.

New York is forecast to have a low of 7 degrees today. Boston may reach minus 5, Philadelphia 4 and Washington 13, according to the weather service.

“Temperatures like this, with the wind chill, are a very dangerous situation,” Patrick said. “The temperatures will be extreme. This is a serious hazard.”

As the storm pushed eastward on New Year’s Day and Thursday, it dropped as much as 18 inches on suburban Chicago and up to 10 inches on Michigan. Below-zero cold is expected across the region over the next few days.

AAA Michigan said it received 3,100 calls Thursday from drivers dealing with spin outs, cars in ditches and dead batteries. Accidents and delays also were reported from Missouri to New Hampshire.

“Anything below 25 degrees and the salt isn’t nearly as effective,” said Becky Allmeroth, a maintenance engineer with the state of Missouri, where crews were mixing chemicals and beet juice with salt to try to make roads passable.

Authorities said the weather may have been a factor in a fatal crash Wednesday evening involving a pickup and a bus carrying casino patrons in Indiana. Police said the truck’s driver was killed and 15 bus passengers were injured in the collision on a snow-covered and slushy highway in Rolling Prairie.

A worker at a suburban Philadelphia salt storage facility also was killed Thursday afternoon when a 100-foot-tall pile of road salt fell and crushed him.Falls Township police said the man was trapped while operating a backhoe. There was no immediate word on what may have caused the accident.

The weather also was blamed for the death of a woman in Kentucky struck by a car as she walked on an icy road where her car had slid into a guardrail.

Information for this article was contributed by John Christoffersen, Rodrique Ngowi, Wilson Ring, Holly Ramer, Jim Fitzgerald, Jonathan Lemire, David Sharp, Bruce Shipkowski, Jackie Quinn and Jim Salter of The Associated Press; by James Barron, Steven Yaccino, Matt Flegenheimer, Ariel Kaminer and Kate Taylor of The New York Times; by Brian K. Sullivan, Annie Linskey, Konstantin Rozhnov and Naureen S. Malik of Bloomberg News; by Alana Semuelsof the Los Angeles Times and by Noel Oman of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 01/03/2014

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