Transportation in Disarray After Blizzard Tapers Off

The Northeast awoke Monday morning under a heavy blanket of snow from a monster blizzard that barreled up the coast on Sunday. Even as the storm moved on from the area, its barrages of wind-driven snow left airports closed, rail and highway travel in disarray and a dozen states transformed into enchanted and borderless white dreamscapes.
Multimedia
At Kennedy and the other two major airports in the New York area, more than 1,400 flights were canceled on Sunday. Amtrak canceled trains between New York and Boston. More Photos »

Morning commuters faced the daunting prospect of cutting fresh tracks in over a foot of snow along roads and sidewalks that looked more like Colorado than the urban north. In New York City, a badly crippled subway system hobbled along, but Long Island Rail Road service remained suspended early on Monday, as did some New Jersey Transit and Metro-North Railroad lines. Airports were closed in New York and New Jersey but expected to open by afternoon; Philadelphia and Boston airports were open, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The storm’s timing was diabolical — too late for a white Christmas, but just in time to disrupt the plans of thousands of people trying to get home after the holiday, return unwanted gifts or take advantage of post-holiday bargains at stores. Public schools were not in session, much to the dismay of many children. By 7 a.m. Monday, 20 inches covered Central Park, according to the National Weather Service. The deepest snow was recorded in Elizabeth, N.J., where 31 inches fell. By sunrise, the storm had largely moved on from New York City, the weather service said, with only an additional inch or two expected in Queens.

Well before the final flake had fallen, forecasters were reaching for superlatives, saying the storm was likely to be one of the biggest blows of the season, with wind gusts up to 55 miles an hour and snow two feet deep in spots.

Blizzard warnings — official forecasts of huge snowfalls with sustained winds of 35 miles an hour — were in effect from the Carolinas to New England. North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey declared states of emergency, and New York, Philadelphia and Boston declared snow emergencies, imposing parking bans on major thoroughfares and urging residents to stay off the roads.

The weather service called it the biggest storm in the region since last February, when record snowfalls paralyzed the mid-Atlantic states but largely spared New York City, and the first blizzard since Feb. 12, 2006, when the 24-hour record for Central Park, 26.9 inches, was set.

By Sunday evening, the storm had been blamed for at least one death, after a driver slammed into a utility pole in Mount Olive Township, N.J., according to the police there.

The snow began falling in New York late Sunday morning, and by 5 p.m. it had already eclipsed the average of 3.3 inches for the month of December.

Through the afternoon, the storm grew into an adventure. The snow came down in great sweeping curtains, drifting over parked cars and park benches to be sculpted into aerodynamic shapes.

Everywhere, the winds whispered and moaned in their secret Ice Age language, and the blizzard spawned lightning flashes and thunder. Yet well before dawn, sledders, snowboarders, hikers and even a few skiers were out, cutting fresh trails along the marbled Hudson or in the wilderness of Central Park. It was not a bad day to stay at home with the newspaper and watch the storm through panes etched with frost. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, wearing a bomber jacket and wheezing with a cold at a late-afternoon news conference on Sunday, called it a dangerous storm that could down trees, disrupt railroad signal systems and pose hazards for drivers and the homeless. Long Island Rail Road suspended all trains early Monday morning, and said it would run on a holiday schedule when service resumed. Metro-North said it would operate on a Sunday schedule. New Jersey Transit suspended all bus service into Monday morning. (Read the latest updates on the status of mass transit.)

After problems with high winds on Sunday, Amtrak resumed limited service along its northeast corridor between New York and Boston. Service between Washington and New York was not affected by the storm. dominican republic divorce

Air travel was virtually impossible. All three major airports were expected to remain closed through the morning and reopen in the afternoon, according the F.A.A. More than 2,000 flights were canceled on Sunday by major airlines on the Eastern Seaboard, 1,444 of them at Kennedy International and La Guardia Airports in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Spillback cancellations affected hundreds of other flights from Chicago and Atlanta, and even from London and Paris.

One terminal at Kennedy was transformed into a campsite of refugees. Entire families rested on stacks of luggage, slept on the floor in sleeping bags, watched movies on laptops and ate lunches on suitcases. People streamed to information booths, but it was hopeless: Boards listed nearly all flights as canceled.

On the AirTrain to Kennedy from Jamaica, travelers told their tales of woe and hope. Luciana and Marcelo Dossa were bound for Austin, Tex., after a week’s visit to New York. Their American Airlines flight had been scratched, but they went to the airport on the chance that something else might turn up. “We decided to come anyway because we need to find a way to get home,” Mrs. Dossa said.

Amid the whiteout conditions outside, some homes went dark. Consolidated Edison reported more than 560 power outages in New York City, the majority in Queens, and electricity was not expected to be restored until Monday evening. Nearly 10,400 customers on Long Island lost service from the Long Island Power Authority, and more than 1,500 people were without power in New Jersey. About 4,900 lost electricity in Connecticut, mostly along the coast.