Fatal storm spreads ice, snow across Northeast
11 deaths blamed on early winter system; air travel snarled across U.S.
Dima Gavrysh / AP
The first snowfall of the year hits Central Park in New York City on Sunday.
Dec. 2: NBC Weather Plus’ Bill Karins tells NBC’s Lester Holt what the weather and commute will be like for folks in the Northeast on Monday morning.
Nightly News
ALBANY, N.Y. - A storm system slid across the Northeast with snow, sleet and freezing rain Sunday, glazing roads and tying up air travel after blacking out thousands of customers in the Midwest.
At least 11 deaths have been blamed on weather-related traffic accidents.
Winter storm warnings were in effect into Monday in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine and into Tuesday in parts of New York state. On the other side of the weather system, warnings were issued for parts of Michigan, where freezing rain and sleet were turning to snow late Sunday.
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‘It’s kind of a mess’
The National Weather Service said a foot of snow was possible in the mountains of northern New England, with the potential for 20 inches in northern Maine. In higher elevations of upstate New York, 13 inches of snow was possible. Lake-effect snow and high winds were forecast for parts of Michigan and western New York.
“It’s kind of a mess — probably the best way to term it in one word,” meteorologist Bob Kilpatrick said in Albany.
Three to 6 inches had fallen by Sunday afternoon in central New York state, and parts of New Jersey measured less than 3.
With snowfall that light in New Jersey, and a changeover to rain expected later Sunday in places, the New Jersey Turnpike Authority salted its roads Sunday and didn’t bother to plow.
“Compared to what’s happening in the Midwest, we’ve kind of got it easy right now,” said Joe Orlando, a spokesman for the authority.
Hundreds of flights delayed
Hundreds of flights into the New York City area’s three main airports — Kennedy, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia — were delayed as long as two hours Sunday because of wind and ice.
More than 200 passengers stranded at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport because of canceled flights Saturday were finally able to reach their destinations Sunday, said Gregg Cunningham, a spokesman for Chicago’s Department of Aviation.
But lingering rain and poor visibility caused about 50 flight cancelations Sunday afternoon, forcing about 75 people to stay at the airport overnight, Cunningham said.
The storm created snow and ice from the Plains across the Upper Midwest on Saturday.
Minnesota’s Grand Marais, on Lake Superior’s North Shore, got 20 inches of snow, and the port city of Duluth marked a Dec. 1 record of 10.3 inches, the Weather Service said.
Roads were already cleared Sunday in Grand Marais, said Jane Shinners, owner of the downtown Harbor Inn.
Power problems
Utility companies in Illinois said the lights were back on for most of the nearly 140,000 customers who lost electricity Saturday as ice weighed down power lines. The ice also had blacked out more than 14,000 customers around Iowa, utilities reported
Before the storm hit the Plains and Midwest, it dumped about 3 feet of snow in one mountain area in western Colorado. Silverton Mountain ski resort workers had hoped to open for the season Sunday but postponed the opening a day because of the storm.
MSNBC
Driving was still hazardous Sunday in parts of the Midwest, officials said.
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One member of the Purdue University ice hockey team was killed Saturday when a team van overturned on a slippery Indiana highway, school officials said. Seven others were injured.
Elsewhere, the weather was blamed for four deaths in Michigan, three in Wisconsin, and one each in North Dakota, Illinois and Colorado.
While the Midwest dug out and the Northeast braced itself, a separate storm raked the Oregon and Washington coasts with winds gusting higher than 100 mph in some spots. Officials warned of coastal flooding, and one sheriff reported 45-foot surf and power failures.
