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Uggs? Ugh. NY Fashion Week Battles the Elements

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Workers clear snow outside the tents in Bryant Park, site of the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, in New York, on Feb. 10, 2010. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) - Mother Nature is clearly not a fashionista.

An impending blizzard forced Michael Kors to arrive at New York Fashion Week's Project Runway show on Friday in - gasp - Uggs.

"I came in looking like Pam Anderson," he joked backstage, where the offending boots had been traded for tasteful black leather.

Marc Jacobs postponed his Monday night show until Thursday, citing delivery problems, but for the most part Fashion Week went on with the show. IMG Fashion said organizers remained in contact with city officials including the Mayor's office about potential weather problems, but that they had planned for an extra layer of tenting for the venue and more heat at Lincoln Center along with crews to help with snow and ice.

Zac Posen said he would present his collection as usual on Sunday but he worried that out-of-town editors and retailers might not be able to make it. Other designers were considering plan B - perhaps an Internet stream - in case crowds are snowed out.

Still, plenty of fashion fans wouldn't let a little snow get in the way. Baltimore college student Carmen Green arrived in a red cocktail dress and black high-heel booties.

"In this outfit, the blizzard did not deter me," she said. She did allow that she had only had to cross the street from her hotel and would change into combat boots for the train ride home.

The celebrity stylist Phillip Bloch even offered a blizzard pro tip.

"You either come in warm and comfortable clothes and boots or you come in neon - or sequins would be a good one - so they see you in the drift," he said.

RELATED ON SKYE: Photos: Massive Blizzard Bears Down on Northeast

 

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A State-by-State Look at the Northeast Blizzard

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Updated Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, 2:45 p.m. ET

A pedestrian walks through the snow in Washington Park on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, in Albany, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)

A look at effects in states and provinces in the path of the massive storm that swept across the Northeast and southern Canada:
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CONNECTICUT

The storm dumped at least 2 feet of snow throughout Connecticut, paralyzing much of the state. The governor ordered all roads closed Saturday until further notice, and even emergency responders were stuck on highways.

Snowfall totals were even higher in some towns. As of Saturday morning, 34 inches of snow were reported in New Haven, 28 inches in Manchester and 20 inches in Danbury. The National Guard was brought in to help clear snow in New Haven.

The state's largest utility, Connecticut Light & Power, reported power failures affecting 38,000 homes and businesses.

A woman in her 80s was killed Friday night in Prospect by a hit-and-run driver as she was clearing snow, Gov. Dannel Malloy said.
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MAINE

Portland set a record snowfall reading of 31.9 inches, the National Weather Service said, and blowing snow reduced visibility on the coast.

Vehicles, including state police cruisers, were stuck in the deep snow, state police said, warning that stranded drivers should expect long waits for tow trucks. About 12,000 homes and businesses lost power.

Saturday's National Toboggan Championships races were postponed for a day.
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MASSACHUSETTS

Nearly 22 inches of snow fell in Boston and up to 3 feet was expected, the weather service said, threatening the city's 2003 record of 27.6 inches.

Public transit in the city was suspended, and Logan Airport was closed and expected to reopen Saturday night.

More than 400,000 customers lost power in the state, utilities reported. Some were likely to be without power for several days, a spokesman for utility NStar said, adding that the storm caused significant damage, and many areas were too dangerous Saturday to send in crews.

National Guard troops were helping evacuate coastal areas where flooding was feared as high tide approached.

Only 30 stranded drivers were rescued overnight, and state police credited a travel ban, the state's first since the Blizzard of '78, a ferocious storm that dropped 27 inches of snow, packed hurricane-force winds and claimed dozens of lives.

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant in Plymouth shut down after losing off-site power. There's no threat to public safety, authorities said.

In heavily Catholic Boston, the archdiocese urged parishioners to be prudent and reminded them that, under church law, the requirement to attend Sunday Mass "does not apply when there is grave difficulty in fulfilling this obligation."
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NEW HAMPSHIRE

Saturday morning's high tide sent waves crashing into closed roads along the seacoast, local police said, but there were no reports of significant damage.

Both Seabrook and East Hampstead saw 26 inches of snow. In Concord, plow driver Jim Pierce said road conditions were awful, and while the fluffy consistency of the snow made it relatively easy to push around, the sheer volume made it a challenge.

Drivers appeared to be heeding the governor's warning to stay off the roads until at least midafternoon.

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NEW JERSEY

The state was spared the worst of the storm, and the highest snowfalls were spread across northern New Jersey, where River Vale got 15 inches, the National Weather Service reported.

Bus and train service that was suspended Friday night as the storm intensified was restored Saturday, and Newark Liberty Airport reopened Saturday morning after runways were closed overnight for snow removal. Hundreds of flights were canceled.

Flooding, seen on a massive scale during Superstorm Sandy, did not appear to cause major problems.

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NEW YORK

Police had to use snowmobiles to reach ambulances, fire trucks, police vehicles, some snowplow trucks and passenger vehicles stranded overnight on the Long Island Expressway. About 10,000 homes and businesses lost power on Long Island, which saw as much as 2½ feet of snow.

About a foot of snow fell New York City, which was "in great shape," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. Plows were out overnight and he said all streets would be cleared by the end of the day. He also promised to send equipment and manpower to harder-hit areas like Long Island and Connecticut if need be.

Airports reopened Saturday, but Amtrak said trains between New York and Boston would be suspended Saturday.

Two deaths in the state were blamed on the storm. A 23-year-old man plowing his driveway with a farm tractor went off the edge of the road and was killed in Columbia County, police said. A 74-year-old was fatally struck by a car in Poughkeepsie; the driver said she lost control in the snowy conditions, police said.

Upstate, 10-12 inches of snow fell in the Hudson Valley and Adirondacks, 8 inches at Buffalo and a foot in Rochester.
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ONTARIO

At least 350 traffic collisions were reported in Toronto, and at least three people died in southern Ontario.

Many flights were canceled in Toronto, some of them because destination airports in the United States were closed by the snow.

An 80-year-old woman in Hamilton collapsed while shoveling her driveway, and two men were killed in car crashes, one of them in a multi-vehicle collision.

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PENNSYLVANIA

Parts of the state saw half a foot of snow, including in northeastern Pennsylvania, but the state escaped the brunt of the storm. Snow-covered roads made for treacherous driving overnight, with numerous accidents reported, but no major crashes or road closures.

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RHODE ISLAND

Residents were urged to stay off the roads to allow crews to clear up to 2 feet of snow. About 180,000 homes and businesses lost power.

Most people appeared to heed the warnings in Providence, where typically busy streets were empty Saturday morning as the wind blew snow into drifts that buried cars and parking lots.

No accidents or injuries were reported on state highways, although dozens of cars got stuck in the snow, state police said.

T.F. Green Airport remained closed Saturday morning and all departing flights for the day were canceled.

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VERMONT

Wind, not snow or tides, was the issue in Vermont. Ferry service between Charlotte, Vt., and Essex, N.Y., was closed Saturday because of the gusts. Parts of the state saw 10 inches of snow.

RELATED ON SKYE: Photos: Massive Blizzard Clobbers Northeast
Forecasters said the storm could top Boston's record of 27.6 inches, set in 2003.

Gov. Deval Patrick told nonessential state workers to stay home Friday and ordered all non-emergency vehicles off the road by 4 p.m. The Steamship Authority suspended all ferry service between Nantucket and Hyannis, and between Martha's Vineyard and Woods Hole.

On Cape Cod, shelters opened at high schools in Sandwich, South Yarmouth, Eastham and Falmouth after a flood warning was issued; as much as 2 feet of snow is expected.

Most airlines planned to cease operations between noon and 4 p.m. Friday at Logan Airport in Boston. Flights were expected to restart Saturday afternoon.

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NEW HAMPSHIRE

Heavy snow, blowing snow and strong winds were forecast. Hundreds of schools were closed Friday, airlines canceled flights and sporting and civic events were postponed. A blizzard warning was to begin at 6 p.m. Friday through 4 p.m. Saturday for portions of southeast New Hampshire.

State-run liquor stores were slated to close at 6 p.m. Friday to encourage people to get off the roads by 7 p.m., when the storm is supposed to intensify.

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NEW JERSEY

Light snow or freezing rain was falling in northern areas of the state early Friday afternoon, with light rain reported elsewhere.

A blizzard warning for northeast New Jersey called for as much as 14 inches of snow. Up to 10 inches were possible for most of the state, with 2 to 5 inches in south Jersey.

Parts of the coast were expected to see waves up to 12 feet and minor to moderate flooding during high tide. Brick Township and Toms River, which were hit hard by Superstorm Sandy, issued voluntary evacuation orders for areas still recovering from that storm.

The blizzard zone included the state's largest city, Newark, with a population of more than 275,000. Mayor Cory Booker urged residents to prepare for widespread power failures.

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NEW YORK

Snow fell heavily Friday afternoon in New York City, where more than a foot was expected. Mayor Michael Bloomberg's main concern was clearing the streets of cars and people so 1,700 city plows could get to work; drivers were expected to work 12-hour shifts. Amtrak canceled service north out of the city.

More than 1,700 flights were canceled at the three major airports serving New York City. Most domestic carriers were expected to suspend operations between 2 and 5 p.m. Friday and resume Saturday afternoon.

The state Emergency Operations Center in Albany was activated at noon Friday to monitor storm response. Outside the city, forecasts called for relatively manageable snowfall of 16 inches from the eastern end of Lake Erie to the Hudson Valley. Six inches was forecast in western New York.

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PENNSYLVANIA

In the Pocono Mountains, where more than a foot of snow could fall, schools were closed or delayed, and flights were canceled at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Airport.

Farther south, dozens of flights were also canceled at Philadelphia Airport as a light rain fell. The city was forecast to get 2 to 5 inches of snow.

The bad weather also curtailed bus service from Pennsylvania into New York City.

The evening commute could be especially treacherous, with snow predicted to fall at a rate of 1 to 1.5 inches an hour in some areas.

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RHODE ISLAND

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning through early Saturday afternoon and predicted up to 2 feet of snow and wind gusts of up to 60 mph.

Gov. Lincoln Chafee declared a state of emergency, and nonessential state workers were sent home Friday afternoon. Many schools were closed Friday. Transit service was suspended at noon Friday. The last plane left T.F. Green Airport near Providence just before 1:30 p.m. Friday; no other flights are scheduled to leave until Saturday.

About 100 state plows were already out on the roads, bolstered by 200 private contractors, officials said. Hospitals and health facilities were testing their generators to make sure they would work if power was lost.

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VERMONT

The storm blanketed the state with snow, though not as heavily as other states, and hundreds of schools were closed. Northern Vermont was expected to get 4 to 8 inches of snow by Saturday morning while southern parts of the state could get 8 to 16 inches.

Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont post offices were closing early Friday, at 3 p.m. The storm also disrupted air travel, bus service and Amtrak trains.

 

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Why Are Some Calling the Snowstorm 'Nemo'?

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(Source: CSMonitor.com)

"You must prepare now!" scream headlines from websites such as the Weather Channel. The reason: the snowstorm dubbed "Nemo" is bearing down on the Northeast.

But why this name? Isn't it more likely to bring to mind the Disney-Pixar movie "Finding Nemo" than inspire storm preparation? And why name a storm anyway? The National Weather Service (NWS) doesn't name snowstorms, only hurricanes and tropical storms, but the Weather Channel has decided to name "notable" winter storms this year.

Here are the justifications for naming the storm, according to the Weather Channel (TWC):

  • -Naming a storm raises awareness.
  • -Attaching a name makes it much easier to follow a weather system's progress.
  • -A storm with a name takes on a personality all its own, which adds to awareness.
  • -In today's social media world, a name makes it much easier to reference [a storm] in communication.
  • -A named storm is easier to remember and refer to in the future.

"The fact is, a storm with a name is easier to follow, which will mean fewer surprises and more preparation," the network added.

However, meteorologists are generally not impressed with this particular designation; weather expert Jason Samenow with the Washington Post has collected the opinions of several of the scientists, and the reactions are generally negative. Primarily, meteorologists criticize the unilateral way the network made the decision, apparently never consulting with the NWS or professional organizations. Several respondents said this action will confuse the public and the media.

"I think the preemptive decision by TWC to begin naming winter storms is, at best, a poor decision by a critical source of weather information and, at worst ... a gimmick," writes WJLA meteorologist Bob Ryan on his network's website. "I call this a 'preemptive' decision because there was, from everything I have learned, no coordination of this decision to name winter storms with the National Weather Service or any of the professional groups."

The NWS chooses not to name snowstorms because, unlike hurricanes and tropical storms, they aren't well-defined storms following a path that can be tracked, among other reasons, said Jeff Weber, a climatologist at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.

Weber added that he understands the rationale for the naming, and that publicity was likely a prime motivation. "It makes sense to keep the public informed, but I must admit I questioned the wisdom of having a commercial organization doing the naming," he told OurAmazingPlanet.

The name Nemo isn't meant to refer to "Finding Nemo," Bryan Norcross, a TWC meteorologist who helped conceive the storm-naming last year, told the New York Times. Nemo is Latin for "no one" or "no man." It also refers to Captain Nemo, the Jules Verne character from "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea."

"Captain Nemo was a pretty tough, fierce guy," Norcross said.

Reach Douglas Main at dmain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow him on Twitter @Douglas_Main. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter @OAPlanet. We're also on Facebook and Google+.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

 

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Mapping the Blizzard: Live Interactive Graphic

The Big Dig-Out: New England, NY Slammed With Snow

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Updated Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, 9:16 p.m. ET
John Silver shovels snow between buried cars in front of his home in South Boston Saturday. AP Photo.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - New Englanders began the back-breaking job of digging out from as much as 3 feet of snow Saturday and emergency crews used snowmobiles to reach shivering motorists stranded overnight on New York's Long Island after a howling storm swept through the Northeast.

On Long Island, which got more than 2½ feet of snow, hundreds of drivers spent a cold and scary night stuck on the highways, many of whom were still waiting to be rescued hours after the snow had stopped. Snowplows got bogged down or were blocked by stuck cars, so emergency workers used snowmobiles to try to reach motorists.

One of those who was rescued, Priscilla Arena, prayed as she waited, took out a sheet of loose-leaf paper and wrote what she thought might be her last words to her husband and children, ages 5 and 9. Among her advice: "Remember all the things that mommy taught you. Never say you hate someone you love."

About 560,000 homes and businesses remained without power late Saturday night, down from a total of about 650,000, and some could be cold and dark for days. Roads across the New York-to-Boston corridor of roughly 25 million people were impassable. Cars were entombed by drifts. Some people found the wet, heavy snow packed so high against their homes they couldn't get their doors open.

"It's like lifting cement. They say it's 2 feet, but I think it's more like 3 feet," said Michael Levesque, who was shoveling snow in Quincy, Mass., for a landscaping company.

SEE: Photos of Massive Blizzard in Northeast

In Providence, where the drifts were 5 feet high and telephone lines encrusted with ice and snow drooped under the weight, Jason Harrison labored for nearly three hours to clear his blocked driveway and front walk and still had more work to do. His snowblower, he said, "has already paid for itself."

At least five deaths in the U.S. were blamed on the overnight snowstorm, including an 11-year-old boy in Boston who was overcome by carbon monoxide as he sat in a running car to keep warm while his father shoveled Saturday morning.

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee cautioned that while the snow had stopped, the danger hadn't passed: "People need to take this storm seriously, even after it's over. If you have any kind of heart condition, be careful with the shoveling."

Blowing with hurricane-force winds of more than 80 mph in places, the storm hit hard along the heavily populated Interstate 95 corridor between New York City and Maine. Milford., Conn., got 38 inches of snow, and Portland, Maine, recorded 31.9, shattering a 1979 record. Several communities in New York and across New England got more than 2 feet.

Still, the storm was not as bad as some of the forecasts led many to fear, and not as dire as the Blizzard of '78, used by longtime New Englanders as the benchmark by which all other winter storms are measured.

RELATED: Flights Resume at NYC Airports After Snowstorm

By midday Saturday, the National Weather Service reported preliminary snowfall totals of 24.9 inches in Boston, or fifth on the city's all-time list. Bradley Airport near Hartford, Conn., got 22 inches, for the No. 2 spot in the record books there.

Concord, N.H., got 24 inches of snow, the second-highest amount on record and a few inches short of the reading from the great Blizzard of 1888.

In New York, where Central Park recorded 11 inches, not even enough to make the Top 10 list, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city "dodged a bullet" and its streets were "in great shape." The three major airports - LaGuardia, Kennedy and Newark, N.J. - were up and running by late morning after shutting down the evening before.

Most of the power outages were in Massachusetts, where more than 400,000 homes and businesses were left in the dark. Hours before midnight Saturday, about 344,000 customers remained without power. In Rhode Island, a peak of around 180,000 customers lost power, or about one-third of the state.

Connecticut crews had slowly whittled down the outage total to 31,000 from a high of about 38,000, and power was restored to nearly all of the more than 15,000 in Maine and New Hampshire who were left without lights after the storm hit.

Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island imposed travel bans until 4 p.m. to keep cars off the road and let plows do their work, and the National Guard helped clear highways in Connecticut, where more than 240 auto accidents were reported. The Guardsmen rescued about 90 motorists, including a few who had hypothermia and were taken to hospitals.

RELATED ON SKYE: Watch 17 Hours of Blizzard Footage in 29 Seconds

Richard Ebbrecht, a chiropractor, left his office in Brooklyn at 3 p.m. on Friday and headed for home in Middle Island, N.Y., but got stuck six or seven times on the Long Island Expressway and other roads.

"There was a bunch of us Long Islanders. We were all helping each other, shoveling, pushing," he said. He finally gave up and settled in for the night in his car just two miles from his destination. At 8 a.m., when it was light out, he walked home.

"I could run my car and keep the heat on and listen to the radio a little bit," he said. "It was very icy under my car. That's why my car is still there."

Around the New York metropolitan area, many victims of Superstorm Sandy were mercifully spared another round of flooding, property damage and power failures.

"I was very lucky and I never even lost power," said Susan Kelly of Bayville. "We were dry as anything. My new roof was fantastic. Other than digging out, this storm was a nice storm." As for the shoveling, "I got two hours of exercise."

At New York's Fashion Week, women tottered on 4-inch heels through the snow to get to the tents to see designers' newest collections.

Across much of New England, streets were empty of cars and dotted instead with children who had never seen so much snow and were jumping into snow banks and making forts. Snow was waist-high in the streets of Boston. Plows made some thoroughfares passable but piled even more snow on cars parked on the city's narrow streets.

Boston's Logan Airport was not expected to resume operations until late Saturday night.

Life went on as usual for some. In Portland, Karen Willis Beal got her dream wedding on Saturday - complete with a snowstorm just like the one that hit before her parents married in December 1970.

"I have always wanted a snowstorm for my wedding, and my wish has come true to the max," she said.

In Massachusetts, the National Guard and Worcester emergency workers teamed up to deliver a baby at the height of the storm at the family's home. Everyone was fine.

Some spots in Massachusetts had to be evacuated because of coastal flooding, including Salisbury Beach, where around 40 people were ordered out.

Among them were Ed and Nancy Bemis, who heard waves crashing and rolling underneath their home, which sits on stilts. At one point, Ed Bemis went outside to take pictures, and a wave came up, blew out their door and knocked down his wife.

"The objects were flying everywhere. If you went in there, it looks like ... two big guys got in a big, big fight. It tore the doors right off their hinges. It's a mess," he said.

RELATED ON SKYE: Photos: Massive Blizzard Wallops Northeast

 

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Northeast Storm Disrupts Travel for Sports Teams

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Updated Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, 7:38 p.m. ET

Grounds crews clear the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport in New York Friday. AP Photo.

BOSTON (AP) - The Tampa Bay Lightning were already in Boston when the blizzard shut down the roads, trains and airports. The Bruins and all of the game officials were standing by, too.

But with a state of emergency still in effect through most of Massachusetts, public transportation shut down and the roads closed by a storm that dumped as much as a yard of snow on some areas, the NHL decided to postpone Saturday's game between the Lightning and the Bruins.

No makeup date had been scheduled, a process made more difficult by the lack of off-days in the compressed 48-game schedule that resulted from the lockout.

Several other professional teams were forced to rearrange their travel plans because of the storm, which stranded the Knicks in Minnesota and the Spurs in Detroit on Friday night. New York's airports reopened on Saturday, but Boston's Logan Airport remained closed into Saturday night as airlines canceled more than 5,300 flights.

The Knicks, who played the Timberwolves on Friday night, returned to New York on Saturday for their Sunday matinee against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Spurs, who ended their 11-game winning streak against the Pistons, play the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday night.

The Nets took a train home instead of flying from Washington after losing to the Wizards on Friday night, posting a photo of the players boarding a train with the caption, "Backup plan." The Clippers arrived in New York as scheduled on Saturday.

At least five deaths were blamed on the storm, which dumped as much as 3 feet of snow in some parts of New England. More than 650,000 homes and businesses lost power, with some not expecting electricity to be restored for days. Wind gusts of over 80 mph were recorded.

By midday Saturday, the National Weather Service reported preliminary snowfall totals of 24.9 inches in Boston, short of the 27.1 inches that fell in the Blizzard of '78 that left hundreds attending the Beanpot college hockey tournament stuck at the old Boston Garden for days.

The Bruins said Saturday's game would be rescheduled as soon as a makeup date could be confirmed. The process is complicated because the Bruins share a building with the NBA's Celtics.

The Bruins and Lightning each already had road games scheduled for Sunday night.

Other games in the Northeast went on as scheduled.

A sellout crowd of 17,625 attended the Pittsburgh Penguins' game in New Jersey game less than 24 hours after a storm dropped more than a foot of snow in the area. The New York Islanders were slated to play at home against the Buffalo Sabres at 7 p.m.

Two Ivy League men's college basketball games that had been scheduled for Saturday night were moved back to Sunday because of treacherous travel conditions. Dartmouth will play at Cornell at noon on Sunday in Ithaca, N.Y., and Harvard will visit Columbia at 2 p.m. Sunday in New York.

Aqueduct also called off Saturday's card because of the storm. The track and Belmont Park were expected to remain open for wagering on out-of-town races, with racing scheduled to resume Sunday. Harness racing was canceled at Freehold Raceway in New Jersey.
RELATED ON SKYE: Photos: Massive Blizzard Bears Down on Northeast

 

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Sandy in Back of Easterners' Minds as Snow Falls

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A man skis through a driving snow while a blizzard arrives in the Back Bay neighborhood on Friday in Boston. Getty Photo.

NEW YORK (AP) - For many in the Northeast, the warnings were eerily familiar: Stock up on food and water. Stay off the roads. Be prepared to lose power.

The snowstorm sweeping through the region brought with it echoes of Superstorm Sandy, if not in intensity, in the dread of residents waiting to see what a new storm would bring.

The snowy, windy system that bore down on the Northeast on Friday was expected to drop 8 to 16 inches on the areas hardest hit by Sandy, a swath including New Jersey, New York City, Long Island and Connecticut.

A moderate storm surge was possible, too - but nothing like the waves that drowned much of the region in late October. Still, the prospect frightened Eddie Malone, a resident of Lindenhurst on Long Island whose house has been under renovation since Sandy's flooding wiped out his first floor.

"I'm not afraid of the snow - instead, the sea surge, it may be 7 feet," Malone said. "I think Sandy was 12 or 13 feet, but 7 feet scares me. ... We had no power for two weeks, and now I'm afraid we are going to lose it again."

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg sought to reassure folks, saying nothing like Sandy's surge was expected and stressing that no evacuations were being ordered, as they were before the superstorm.

"Sandy was a big storm that was devastating to a lot of people," he said. "I don't think this storm is going to do that."

In Fairfield, Conn., 65-year-old teacher Kathy Niznansky braced for potential flooding just about a month after she was able to return to her house near the beach. She worried about her sump pump failing if she loses power around high tide.

"If we have another one, sometimes I think maybe you should move," she said. "I think if I got water in my house from this storm, I think it would really do me in."

Hemlock Hardware in Fairfield did a brisk business on shovels, batteries, firewood, salt, sand and sleds. The store was getting a lot of calls for generators, too.

"There's definitely a change in response to storms now," said owner Scott Pesavento. "Power outages, I guess, is the first concern now when they hear 'storm.'"

Al Terrile, a 69-year-old retired Southport resident, stocked up on batteries, a box of firewood and a light at the hardware store. He lost power for four days during Sandy.

"Maybe nothing will happen but just in case," he said. "It seems like our electrical system has suddenly turned fragile."

At the Jersey shore, where waves of 12 feet and moderate flooding were possible, Brick Township and Toms River issued voluntary evacuation orders for areas still recovering from Sandy.

"We're telling people, if they can, find shelter elsewhere," said Edward Moroney, a Brick Township spokesman.

In New York City's Staten Island, at a tent shelter set up for superstorm victims still living without power, volunteers used tarps and a makeshift drain to keep the bad weather out. Manager Donna Graziano said she feared the new storm would keep her regulars away.

"A lot of residents don't have the means to cook anything," she said. "I'm sure for tonight they'll make arrangements, but it's heartbreaking to me because I hear their cries every day. I give them their hugs."

Douglas Beman, 30, of Greenburgh in the northern New York suburbs, was thinking of Sandy - and the long gas lines that followed it - as he filled his Chevy Tahoe and a 5-gallon gas can at a Mobil station.

"Sandy taught me this lesson: Stock up on gasoline," he said.

In coastal areas of Queens and Long Island, not nearly recovered yet from Sandy, memories were easily stirred.

"A little snow doesn't scare me," said Leeann Rivera, 43, stocking up at the only major grocery store still open in the Sandy-ravaged Far Rockaway section of Queens. "But if we were talking about the type of damage that Sandy did, I'd be gone. I would leave New York right now."

RELATED ON SKYE: 25 Indelible Images from Superstorm Sandy

 

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Watch: 17 Hours of Blizzard Footage in 29 Seconds


Flights Resume at NYC Airports After Snowstorm

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Updated Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, 9:15 p.m. ET

Grounds crews pass a plane as they clear the tarmac at LaGuardia Airport Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

NEW YORK (AP) - New York's airports dug out from under nearly a foot of snow and started letting flights resume Saturday, while Boston's Logan Airport remained closed.

Logan Airport said it expects to open one runway by 11 p.m. Across the region, flights were expected to be back on close to normal schedules on Sunday, though flight-tracking website FlightAware said 115 Sunday flights had been cancelled as of Saturday evening.

Even with flights resuming, the airlines recommended that travelers check their websites before heading out to the airport.

Meanwhile, Amtrak said the New York-Boston train route would remain closed Saturday as crews cleared tracks of snow and fallen trees. Some trains will start running again on Sunday, Amtrak said.

Trains were running south from New York on Saturday, and between New York and Albany.

Airports in the Northeast shut down Friday afternoon as a snowstorm of potentially historic proportions blew in. The storm brought more than 2 feet of snow in some parts of New England and left more than 650,000 homes and businesses without power at its peak.

These days, airlines try to get ahead of big storms by canceling flights in advance. They want to avoid having crews and planes stuck in one area of the country. They also face fines for leaving passengers stuck on a plane for more than three hours under a rule that went into effect in 2010.

FlightAware said airlines have canceled nearly 5,400 flights since Friday because of the storm. Airlines have waived the usual fees to change tickets for flights in the affected areas.

Hardest hit was United Airlines. It has cancelled 710 Friday, Saturday and Sunday flights, according to FlightAware. That doesn't include regional airlines operating as United Express. The count almost doubles when including those, United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said.

Delta Air Lines cancelled 1,200 flights, including regional Delta Connection flights operated by partners.

Daniel Baker, CEO of FlightAware, noted that the timing of this storm worked in the airlines' favor.

"Fortunately, Saturday is the lightest travel day of the week, so airlines can use the day to restart their operations in time for the Sunday evening travel rush," Baker said earlier as airlines were starting their cancellations.

Still, the storm disrupted thousands of travelers.

Denny Lindersson, a tourist from Sweden, was making his way across New York City with his family on Saturday morning after spending the night at a hotel close to Kennedy Airport. Their Saturday morning flight to the Cayman Islands was cancelled. JetBlue Airways re-booked them for a Monday flight, but rather than wait, the Linderssons bought new tickets on a flight from Newark Airport in New Jersey on Saturday afternoon.

"JetBlue didn't pay for anything," he grumbled, also noting that Sweden's biggest airport would not have shut down because of 11 inches of snow.

Several professional and college sports teams were stranded by the storm. The NBA's New York Knicks were stuck in Minnesota Friday night after playing the Timberwolves, although they were able to return Saturday. The San Antonio Spurs stayed overnight in Detroit, as they awaited word on flying to New York for their game Sunday night with the Brooklyn Nets.

RELATED ON SKYE: Photos: Massive Blizzard Wallops Northeast

 

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Swedish Ice Pole-Sitting Contest Has 6 Winners

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Six contestants sit on ice blocks Friday for the annual ice pole-sitting contest in Vilhelmina, Northern Sweden. AP Photo

STOCKHOLM (AP) - Six contestants have braved butt-numbing cold and boredom to win an annual ice pole-sitting contest in northern Sweden.

Two women and four men shared the 20,000-kronor prize ($3,100) for remaining on 8.25-foot-tall blocks of ice during the 48-hour contest, which ended Saturday.

Competitors said the worst part of the competition was not the cold - temperatures dipped below -18 F - but the monotony, even though they were allowed to come down for 10-minute toilet breaks every other hour.

Organizer Annica Andersson said the contest has been held annually for a dozen years, and was brought to the Swedish town of Vilhelmnina by a local resident who had participated in a similar competition in Russia.


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Boston Boy, 11, Dies of Carbon Monoxide in Running Car

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A man walks past snow covered cars in the Chinatown neighborhood of Boston on Saturday. AP Photo/Charles Krupa.

BOSTON (AP) - The Boston fire department says an 11-year-old boy has died of carbon monoxide poisoning after being overcome as he sat in a running car to keep warm while his father was shoveling snow.

Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said the boy was helping his father shovel the snow Saturday but got cold, so his father started the car and the boy got inside. MacDonald said the car exhaust was covered by a snow bank, causing the fumes to collect in the vehicle.

When the boy was overcome by the fumes, the father went into respiratory arrest, and emergency workers took both to a hospital. The boy was pronounced dead at the hospital. No names were released.

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'My Love Will Never Die — Remember, Always'

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Updated Feb. 9, 2013, at 8:49 p.m. ET.

With tears in her eyes, Pirscilla Arena, 41, from Mount Sinai, N.Y., reads letters she wrote to her two children as she spent the night in her car on in Farmingville after the car got stuck in the snow while she was traveling home after work during yesterday's snow storm. Arena was at the Brookhaven Town Hall after being rescued by a N.Y. State Trooper on Saturday. AP Photo.

ARMINGVILLE, N.Y. (AP) - Stranded for hours on a snow-covered road, Priscilla Arena prayed, took out a sheet of loose-leaf paper and wrote what she thought might be her last words to her husband and children.

She told her 9 1/2-year-old daughter, Sophia, she was "picture-perfect beautiful." And she advised her 5 ½-year-old son, John: "Remember all the things that mommy taught you. Never say you hate someone you love. Take pride in the things you do, especially your family. ... Don't get angry at the small things; it's a waste of precious time and energy. Realize that all people are different, but most people are good. "

"My love will never die - remember, always," she added.

Arena, who was rescued in an Army canvas truck after about 12 hours, was one of hundreds of drivers who spent a fearful, chilly night stuck on highways in a blizzard that plastered New York's Long Island with more than 30 inches of snow, its ferocity taking many by surprise despite warnings to stay off the roads.

Even plows were mired in the snow or blocked by stuck cars, so emergency workers had to resort to snowmobiles to try to reach motorists. Four-wheel-drive vehicles, tractor-trailers and a couple of ambulances could be seen stranded along the roadway and ramps of the Long Island Expressway. Stuck drivers peeked out from time to time, running their cars intermittently to warm up as they waited for help.

With many still stranded hours after the snow stopped, Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged other communities to send plows to help dig out in eastern Long Island, which took the state's hardest hit by far in the massive Northeast storm.

In Connecticut, where the storm dumped more than 3 feet of snow in some places, the National Guard rescued about 90 stranded motorists, taking a few to hospitals with hypothermia.

The scenes came almost exactly two years after a blizzard marooned at least 1,500 cars and buses on Chicago's iconic Lake Shore Drive, leaving hundreds of people shivering in their vehicles for as long as 12 hours and questioning why the city didn't close the crucial thoroughfare earlier.

Cuomo and other officials were similarly asked why they didn't act to shut down major highways in Long Island in advance of the storm, especially given the sprawling area's reputation for gridlock. The expressway is often called "the world's longest parking lot."

"The snow just swallowed them up. It came down so hard and so fast," explained Suffolk County Executive Steven Bellone.

RELATED ON SKYE: Northeast Begins Digging Out After Snowstorm

"That's not an easy call," added Cuomo, who noted that people wanted to get home and that officials had warned them to take precautions because the worst of the snow could start by the evening rush hour. Flashing highway signs underscored the message ahead of time: "Heavy Snow Expected. Avoid PM Travel!"

"People need to act responsibly in these situations," Cuomo said.

But many workers didn't have the option of taking off early Friday, Arena noted. The 41-year-old sales account manager headed home from an optical supply business in Ronkonkoma around 4 p.m. She soon found her SUV stuck along a road in nearby Farmingville.

"Even though we would dig ourselves out and push forward, the snow kept piling, and therefore we all got stuck, all of us," she recalled later at Brookhaven Town Hall, where several dozen stranded motorists were taken after being rescued. Many others opted to stay with their cars.

Richard Ebbrecht left his Brooklyn chiropractic office around 3 p.m. for his home in Middle Island, about 60 miles away, calculating that he could make the drive home before the worst of the blizzard set in. He was wrong.

As the snow came rushing down faster than he'd foreseen, he got stuck six or seven times on the expressway and on other roads. Drivers began helping each other shovel and push, he said, but to no avail. He finally gave up and spent the night in his car on a local thoroughfare, only about two miles from his home.

"I could run my car and keep the heat on and listen to the radio a little bit," he said.

He walked home around at 8 a.m., leaving his car.

Late-shifters including Wayne Jingo had little choice but to risk it if they wanted to get home. By early afternoon, he'd been stuck in his pickup truck alongside the Long Island Expressway for nearly 12 hours.

He'd left his job around midnight as a postal worker at Kennedy Airport and headed home to Medford, about 50 miles east. He was at an exit in Ronkonkoma - almost home - around 1:45 a.m. when another driver came barreling at him westbound, the wrong way, he said. Jingo swerved to avoid the oncoming car, missed the exit and ended up stuck on the highway's grass shoulder.

He rocked the truck back and forth to try to free it, but it only sank down deeper into the snow and shredded one of his tires. He called 911. A police officer came by at 9:30 a.m. and said he would send a tow truck.

At 1 p.m. Saturday, Jingo was still waiting.

"I would have been fine if I didn't have to swerve," he said.

In Middle Island, a Wal-Mart remained unofficially open long past midnight to accommodate more than two dozen motorists who were stranded on nearby roads.

"We're here to mind the store, but we can't let people freeze out there," manager Jerry Greek told Newsday.

Officials weren't aware of any deaths among the stranded drivers, Cuomo said. Suffolk County police said no serious injuries had been reported among stuck motorists, but officers were still systematically checking stranded vehicles late Saturday afternoon.

Susan Cassara left her job at a Middle Island day care center around 6:30 p.m., after driving some of the children home because their parents couldn't get there to pick them up.

She got stuck on one road until about 2:30 a.m. Then a plow helped her get out - but she got stuck again, she said. Finally, an Army National Guardsman got to her on a snowmobile after 4 a.m.

"It was so cool. Strapped on, held on and came all the way here" to the makeshift shelter at the Brookhaven Town Hall, she said. "Something for my bucket list."

RELATED ON SKYE: Photos: Massive Blizzard Wallops Northeast

 

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Northeast Tries to Get Back on Track After Storm

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Updated Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, at 7:17 p.m. ET

Patrick Cramphorn places an "Open" flag outside the P.I. Beachcoma Restaurant in Newburyport, Mass., Saturday, as snow winds down in Plum Island.

NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) - Travel eased and life slowly returned to normal for most New Englanders after a massive blizzard, but many remained without power in cold and darkened homes and a forecast of rain brought a new worry: Weight piling up dangerously on roofs already burdened by heavy snow.

The storm that slammed into the region with up to 3 feet of snow was blamed for at least 14 deaths in the Northeast and Canada, and brought some of the highest accumulations ever recorded. Still, coastal areas were largely spared catastrophic damage despite being lashed by strong waves and hurricane-force wind gusts at the height of the storm.

Hundreds of people, their homes without heat or electricity, were forced to take refuge in emergency shelters set up in schools or other places.

"For all the complaining everyone does, people really came through," said Rich Dinsmore, 65, of Newport, R.I., who was staying at a Red Cross shelter set up in a middle school in Middletown after the power went out in his home on Friday.

Dinsmore, who has emphysema, was first brought by ambulance to a hospital after the medical equipment he relies on failed when the power went out and he had difficulty breathing.

"The police, the fire department, the state, the Red Cross, the volunteers, it really worked well," said the retired radio broadcaster and Army veteran.

Utility crews, some brought in from as far away as Georgia, Oklahoma and Quebec, raced to restore power to more than 300,000 customers - down from 650,000 in eight states at the height of the storm. In hardest-hit Massachusetts, where some 234,000 customers remained without power on Sunday, officials said some of the outages might linger until Tuesday.

Driving bans were lifted and flights resumed at major airports in the region that had closed during the storm, though many flights were still canceled Sunday.

The Boston-area public transportation system, which shut down on Friday afternoon, partially resumed subway service and some bus routes on Sunday. Beverly Scott, general manager of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, said full service was expected on Monday - albeit with delays.

"Give yourself more time and expect that it is going to take us more time," Scott advised riders.

Boston public schools were among many in the region that had already decided to cancel classes on Monday.

Boston recorded 24.9 inches of snow, making it the fifth-largest storm in the city since records were kept. The city was appealing to the state and private contractors for more front-end loaders and other heavy equipment to clear snow piles that were clogging residential streets.

On eastern Long Island, which was slammed with as much as 30 inches of snow, hundreds of snowplows and other heavy equipment were sent in Sunday to clear ice- and drift-covered highways where hundreds of people and cars were abandoned during the height of the storm.

More than a third of all the state's snow-removal equipment was sent to the area, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, including more than 400 plow trucks and more than 100 snow blowers, loaders and backhoes.

The National Weather Service was forecasting rain and warmer temperatures in the region on Monday - which could begin melting some snow but also add considerable weight to snow already piled on roofs, posing the danger of collapse. Of greatest concern were flat or gently-sloped roofs and officials said people should try to clear them - but only if they could do so safely.

"We don't recommend that people, unless they're young and experienced, go up on roofs," said Peter Judge, spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

In Middlefield, Conn., two cows were killed when the roof of a barn gave way under the weight of heavy snow - one of two such incidents in the state that prompted agriculture officials to issue an advisory to farmers.

Officials also continued to warn of carbon monoxide dangers in the wake of the storm.

In Boston, two people died Saturday after being overcome by carbon monoxide while sitting in running cars, including an 11-year-old who went into the family car to stay warm while his father shoveled snow. The boy's name was not made public. In a third incident, two children were hospitalized but expected to recover.

A fire department spokesman said in each case, the tailpipes of the cars were clogged by snow.

Authorities also reminded homeowners to clear snow from heating vents to prevent carbon monoxide from seeping back into houses.

In Maine, the Penobscot County Sheriff's office said it recovered the body of a 75-year-old man who died after the pickup he was driving struck a tree and plunged into the Penobscot River during the storm. Investigators said Gerald Crommett apparently became disoriented while driving in the blinding snow.

Christopher Mahood, 23, of Germantown, N.Y., died after his tractor went off his driveway while he was plowing snow Friday night and rolled down a 15-foot embankment.

In eastern Long Island, hundreds of cars were stuck on roads, including the Long Island Expressway, a 27-mile stretch of which was closed Sunday for snow-removal work. Officials hoped to have most major highways cleared in time for the morning commute Monday.

In Massachusetts, eight teams were formed to assess damage from flooding along the state's coastline, with the hardest hit-areas including historic Plymouth and portions of Cape Cod.

"Considering the severity of the storm, the amount of snow and the wind, we've come through this pretty well," Gov. Deval Patrick told CBS's Face The Nation after meeting with local officials in Plymouth.

The U.S. Postal Service said that mail delivery that was suspended in the six New England states, as well as parts of New York and New Jersey, because of the snowstorm would resume Monday, where it is safe to do so.

Utility companies also reported steady progress in restoring power to customers.

In Massachusetts, some 234,000 customers remained without power on Sunday - down from 400,000 at the height of the blizzard, the vast majority in the southeastern part of the state. Rhode Island reported about 54,000 outages Sunday, down from 185,000. Connecticut still had about 15,000 without power, while in New York, just under 2,400 outages remained.

Newport resident Christine Carreiro, who spent time at a shelter with her 2-year-old son, who suffers from asthma and needs treatment from an electrically powered nebulizer, said she was thankful for the effort by line workers.

"Whoever was fixing the power lines left their families to help us," she said. "I'm very grateful.

RELATED ON SKYE: Photos: Massive Blizzard Wallops Northeast

 

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Watch: Two Brothers Duel with Icicles

Shovels, Skis or a Wedding: Tales From a Snowstorm

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Bride Kathryn Jussaume with her sister and maid of honor Adrianne Richard, left, pose in snowshoes as Adrianne's husband takes a photo in front of her parents' house before going to her wedding Saturday in Lowell, Mass. AP Photo/The Lowell Sun, Julia Malakie

From New Jersey to Maine, millions of people, many with Superstorm Sandy still fresh in their minds, dug out from underneath mounds of snow Saturday.

Many were left with serious consequences. Hundreds of thousands lost power, and on New York's Long Island, abandoned cars littered the roadways, left by people who could not make it home Friday night as the storm intensified.

Others simply had a few inches to clear from their cars and sidewalks. But mostly, people soldiered on, planning cocktail hours after clearing waist-high snow, cross-country skiing down narrow streets and even braving 4-inch stiletto heels to stay chic during New York Fashion Week. A few of their stories:

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Karen Willis Beal got her dream wedding Saturday - complete with a snowstorm just like the one that hit before her parents married in December 1970.

"This is what I've wished for all my life," Beal said afterward.

The storm kept some guests from making it to the church-turned-restaurant in Portland, Maine, where the ceremony was performed. But she was still happy she got her storm.

"Weather be damned, it's been a great day," said her husband, Greg Beal, of Manchester, N.H.

The happy couple even took some outdoor photos, including one at a lighthouse where they used a sled as a prop.

"The gusts were enough to knock you off balance," Greg Beal said.

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In other snowbound wedding news, Kathryn Jussaume, 30, of Lowell, found that a pair of snowshoes was a nice complement to her stunning strapless gown for her nuptials to Jason Destroismaison, 32, of Tyngsboro.

Earlier in the day, she confessed to some jitters when she awoke on her wedding day and the snow was so deep she couldn't see her mailbox.

"I started to get a little bit nervous," Jussaume said Saturday afternoon. "But Jason was cool as a cucumber."

She set out to shovel after her snow blower broke. She told the Lowell (Mass.) Sun she waved down a passing plow and explained it was her wedding day.

"He said, 'It's your wedding day? Move over,'" Jussaume said. "It was so nice. He plowed us out."

For fun, she later posed for photos in her gown - wearing snowshoes.

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The storm didn't stop the chic from attending - and dressing the part for - New York Fashion Week. At the Nicole Miller show, blogger Stephanie Ospina, of New York, was wearing her pointy-toe stilettos pumps with bare legs.

She thought about not going to shows Friday but decided "I'm going to go to as many as I can. New Yorkers are that way."

She did wear boots - not quite snow boots since they were 3-inch wedge heel shearling boots to the Lincoln Center tents - and changed once she got inside.

Alyssa Montemurro, 22, said her 4-inch heels were a workplace necessity. She didn't bring boots.

Why? "I am 5-foot-3 on a good day, and when you're interviewing models backstage it's best to be somewhere near their face level."

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In Boston, one 16-ton city snowplow almost got stuck on one street and had to pull back while a frontend loader was called in to clear it.

"This is bad, this is really bad," said the plow driver, Domenic DePina, who has worked for the city public works department for more than four years.

Complaints could be heard on the plow's communication radio about people around the city shoveling or blowing snow back into the street, which officials warned against.

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A pirate flag snapped in the gale-force winds outside Eileen O'Brien's house in Sagamore Beach, Mass.

O'Brien stood outside in the gusts, trying to clear heavy snow from her deck for fear it might collapse.

The town was without power, and O'Brien said the temperature inside was falling fast.

"My thermostat keeps dropping," she said. "Right now it's 54 inside, and I don't have any wood. There's nothing I can do to keep warm except maybe start the grill and make some coffee."

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Scott Bauer and his wife, Stacey, were digging out from several feet of snow at their rental house in Fairfield, Conn., near the shore. It's their second rental home they've lived in since Superstorm Sandy destroyed their home.

Bauer, who is 40 and in medical sales, said they plan to build a new elevated house and hope to move in by October.

They didn't lose power or get flooded in this storm, and Bauer, who has two sons, was upbeat, noting his family is healthy and are rebuilding.

"We've already been through the up-and-down rollercoaster of emotions with losing our home and the kids moving twice now," he said. "I think they are hardened by the storm, so they're definitely a little tougher now, and they realize that this really isn't that bad."

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Mike McNamara, 55, chief operating officer of a Bronx charter school, left his downhill skis in Colorado when he moved to New York recently.

"But I brought my cross country skis - just in case there was enough snow in New York City, like I'd seen on TV."

That day came Saturday. The Pennsylvania native flashed a grin as he pushed off with his poles across Central Park's Sheep Meadow.

The 15-acre preserve, blanketed with nearly a foot of snow, became a playground for frolicking dogs and for children building snowmen and making angels under a bright sun.

But this was still New York City, "and it's hard to find a spot that's not fenced in." That includes Sheep Meadow, its fence topped with snow against a postcard-perfect view of Manhattan's skyline.

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Forget shopping for groceries or shovels. At one store in Abington, Mass., people had one thing on their mind: a drink.

Customers were lined up 10 deep ahead of the storm at Rosie's Liquors, snapping up 30-packs of beer, bottles of wine and every single bottle of Captain Morgan Spiced Rum.

Manager Kristen Brown said the store had five times its typical sales Thursday and Friday.

"It has been crazy," Brown said. "We've been absolutely slammed. It's almost been like Christmas here."

"A lot of people are saying, 'I'm going to be stuck with my family all weekend. I need something to do.'"

RELATED ON SKYE: Photos: Massive Blizzard Wallops Northeast

 

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Airports Returning to Normal After Northeast Storm

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Updated Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, 5:30 p.m. ET

Grounds crews prepare a plane for flight at LaGuardia Airport Friday, Feb. 8, 2013, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

NEW YORK (AP) - Airports in New York, Boston and Connecticut were ramping up service Sunday, as they worked to return to normal operations following a massive snowstorm that crippled parts of the East Coast and led to thousands of flight delays and cancelations.

Airlines said they were operating close-to-normal schedules on Sunday, a busy day for air travel.

Meanwhile, trains and public transportation networks were also struggling to get back to full operation in time for Monday morning's commute.

Boston's Logan Airport opened at 11 p.m. ET on Saturday, after closing in anticipation of the storm along with airports in New York City and Connecticut.

As of Sunday afternoon, Boston was still experiencing delayed and canceled flights and officials urged passengers to check with their airline before heading to the airport. Connecticut's Bradley International Airport opened early Sunday morning, also advising passengers to contact individual airlines about possible cancellations.

Flight-tracking website FlightAware.com said about 450 flights were canceled on Sunday, a busy travel day for airlines. Only 20 are expected for Monday.

In all roughly 5,700 flights have been canceled since Friday, when the airports shut down in anticipation of the storm. Friday saw the most cancelations, according to FlightAware, with Saturday a close second. Airlines waived ticket-change fees for passengers in the affected areas.

Airlines try to get ahead of big storms by canceling flights in advance. They want to avoid having crews and planes stuck in one area of the country. They also face fines for leaving passengers stuck on a plane for more than three hours, under a rule that went into effect in 2010.

Delta Air Lines Inc. said that as of Sunday morning, its flights were back to normal. In all, it canceled about 1,200 flights due to the storm.

United Airlines spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said the airline was operating at all airports Sunday, though it was experiencing some delays because of the weather. United is part of United Continental Holdings Inc.

American Airlines spokesman Kent Powell said that by Sunday afternoon the storm-related cancellations had become "almost a non-issue."

JetBlue Airways Corp. said flights are back to regular schedules in New York and will be in Boston by Monday.

Amtrak trains were running on a limited schedule between New York and Boston, after service between the two cities was canceled Saturday.

Regional lines were still working to restore service.

As of Sunday afternoon, Metro-North Railroad service on the New Haven Line was operating between New York City and Stamford, Conn., but remained suspended between Stamford and New Haven, and on branch lines. Train crews were working to clear as much as 4 feet of snow off the tracks.

The Long Island Rail Road was back to "near-normal" weekend schedule on the western portion of most of its lines, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority said. But train service in Long Island's Suffolk County, also hit with more than two feet of snow, was suspended.

Most New York City subways and buses were operating on a regular schedule.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said service on some subway and bus lines resumed at about 2 p.m., and planned to operate on regular schedules Monday. But the agency said commuters should expect "significant" delays.

Most commuter rail service around Boston should resume by Monday morning, the agency said on its website.

The blizzard also snarled drivers across the Northeast as snow cleanup continued Sunday.

 

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Homes Wrecked, Dozen Hurt in Mississippi Tornado

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Updated Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, 10:30 p.m.

Note: Strong language in video.

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - A tornado tore through Hattiesburg on Sunday as part of a wave of severe storms that downed trees, damaged buildings and injured more than a dozen people.

The twister traveled down one of Hattiesburg's main streets and mangled homes, commercial buildings and structures on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. Emergency officials said at least 10 people were injured in surrounding Forrest County and three were hurt to the west in Marion County, but they weren't aware of any deaths.

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Greg Flynn said it appears that a single tornado caused the damage in those two counties and Lamar County. Hundreds of homes are damaged in Forrest County, along with a couple dozen in the other two.

Flynn said the sheer scope of the damage was slowing the assessment of damage.

"The problem is, it was so strong that there's so much debris that there's a lot of areas they haven't been able to get to yet," he said.

On the campus of the university, trees were snapped in half around the heavily damaged Alumni House where part of the roof was ripped away. Windows in a nearby building were blown out, and heavy equipment worked to clear streets nearby in a heavy rain after the worst of the weather had passed.

The university released a statement saying no one was hurt but that it was under a state of emergency, anyone away from campus should stay away until further notice.

East of campus, 47-year-old Cindy Bullock was at home with her husband and dog, a terrier mix named Vinnie, when she heard the tornado coming. They ran to a hallway and covered their heads. It wasn't long before the windows in the kitchen and bedroom exploded. The storm stripped all the shingles off the roof and left holes in it, while knocking over a large pine tree in the yard.

After dark, the Bullocks were trying to arrange their stuff inside so it wouldn't get wet from the dripping water.

"I just looked out the window and I heard the rumbling. It sounded like a train. We ran to the hall, and the kitchen windows and the windows in the bedroom exploded. It happened pretty fast," she said.

There were large trees blocking the road all through her neighborhood, and several of the houses were hit by falling trees. Her friend was staying with them after the friend's apartment took a direct hit from a falling tree.

Forrest County Sheriff Billy McGee says 10 or 15 people were injured by the tornado that slammed Hattiesburg and other parts of the county - but none of the injuries was serious.

He says, "Most of our injuries have been walking wounded."

To the west, Marion County emergency director Aaron Greer says three injuries have been reported in the community of Pickwick, about seven miles south of Columbia. He says two people were taken to hospitals, but the third didn't have the injury examined.

Greer says one mobile home was destroyed, three other structures have major damage and several have minor damage.

Gov. Phil Bryant plans to go to Hattiesburg on Monday to check out damage in the city and at USM, his alma mater, spokesman Mick Bullock said.

On Sunday night, John and Katherine Adams were cleaning up around their one-story white house where the storm punched holes in the roof, busted windows and completely destroyed the back porch. The couple was at home with their 7- and 3-year-old daughters when the tornado passed next to their house.

All through the neighborhood, houses and vehicles were damaged by falling trees.

"We're safe, and that's all that matters," said Katherine Adams, 46.

John Adams, who's in the building supply business, said he was surprised to see broken boards that appeared to be from new construction in his yard because there are no homes being built nearby.

"We've got stuff around here; I don't even know where it came from," he said.

RELATED ON SKYE: Photos: Tornado Rips Through Hattiesburg, Miss.

 

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Photos: Tornado Rips Through Hattiesburg, Miss.

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Alone, Together: Snowed In, In the Age of Hashtags

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A woman checks her mobile phone outside Lincoln Center, home of New York's Fashion Week shows, on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

HAMDEN, Conn. (AP) - The East Coast woke up under a blanket of snow this weekend and collectively documented the experience on the myriad social and mobile inventions of the past decade. Facebook, Twitter and other technologies make it increasingly difficult to stay isolated -even if you're stuck home alone.

"The funny thing is that I actually checked my Instagram feed before I even looked out my own window," says Eric Witz, who lives in Medford, Mass.

On Saturday, Witz posted a photo of his car stuck under a "6-foot-high snow drift." "I always have my phone on me. So, checking these things is something I do instinctively when I wake up," he says. "That probably makes me a sad social media cliché, but it's the truth."

As Northeasterners posted photo after photo of kids sledding in Central Park and suburbanites conquering Mt. Snowmore with their shovels, West Coast wags teased with tweets of sunshine and snapshots of palm trees.

Call it what you will: The Hashtag Snowstorm, the latest Snowpocalypse or Snowtorious B.I.G. The weekend whiteout was a lifetime away from the blizzard of 1978, a world not just without social media but one devoid of endless Weather Channel warnings and the lifeline of mobile phones. Even the last two years have upended the way we receive information. We've moved from text to photos and videos taken on smartphones and we can't let go.

Kathy Tracy was in junior high school when that famous snowstorm hit Westhaven, Conn., 35 years ago. She still lives there today and some things haven't changed. Snow is still snow, and people still wait for the streets to be cleared, hoping there is enough food and toilet paper to get by.

"The roads were so bad that my father and I took a sled and walked two miles to the grocery store," says Tracy recalling the '78 storm that left as much as 27 inches of snow on the Northeast.

Getting updates on the '78 blizzard meant turning on the radio or watching evening news programs. This weekend, Tracy says she turned to Twitter and nonstop news coverage to stay informed. She also follows a meteorologist on Facebook and receives updates from CNN, the Wall Street Journal and other news outlets.

While Tracy talked with a reporter on the telephone on Sunday, she was still waiting for plow trucks to clear the three feet of snow the storm heaped on her neighborhood. But the information at the tips of her fingers made being stuck at home somewhat more tolerable.

"I guess what's better is that you are not sitting here waiting for the 6 o'clock news, waiting to find out what's going on," she says.

Still, no matter what century you live in, there are few cures for cabin fever.

"You still have to deal with waiting for the plow," Tracy says.

As people across the Northeast awaited plow trucks, looked for flights to resume or simply tried to kill time as the storm passed, they plucked away on their smartphones and tablet computers to document just about every inch of the snowfall. On Facebook, mentions of the word snow jumped 15-fold from earlier in the week, the company says, though it did not give specific numbers. On Sunday, one of the most-used terms in status updates was "no school tomorrow" as students rejoiced and parents shared updates with one another.

On Instagram, people used the hashtag "Nemo" (the Weather Channel's unofficial name for the storm) 583,641 times in describing their photos as of Sunday afternoon according to Venueseen, a company that helps businesses track marketing campaigns on Instagram. The Facebook-owned photo-sharing site is where Witz posted a photo that his sister sent him from Hamden, Conn., one of the hardest-hit areas with 40 inches of snow.

"I like Instagram because it gives you a more personal, immediate sense of peoples' experiences in real time," he says. "I'm one of the weird few people who actually enjoy seeing what people in the world are eating and drinking."

It's easy to be nostalgic about how much things have changed since the blizzard of '78 when it comes to the speed of information and how it's consumed. But the changes continue.

"What really struck me this time around, and with (Superstorm) Sandy, too, is not so much that people were sharing information, but that they were sharing photos and video," says Steve Jones, a professor who studies online culture and communications at the University of Illinois at Chicago. "You get a different perspective than you could from just words."

Indeed, says Ranvir Gujral, the co-founder of Chute, a San Francisco startup that helps companies put user-generated content on their websites and mobile apps, "we are in the midst of a visual revolution."

The San Francisco company worked with NBC to launch Stormgrams, a site where people can share Instagram photos of the storm using a common hashtag. The photos are organized by location, laid out on a "heat map" that paints the most actively sharing states red.

Countless mobile apps encourage photo-taking, Gujral says, adding that a big reason there is so much thirst online for the endless stream of photos is because there has never been a bigger supply of it.

So, what's lost in this endless stream of snow-updates, Instagram photos and Facebook news? Serendipity, Jones says. Running into people and sharing a moment - offline - while events are unfolding.

RELATED ON SKYE: Photos: 20 Epic Photos From the Big Blizzard

 

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Northeast Slowly Recovering After Snow

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A row of school buses are buried in snow near Bridgeport, Conn., on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in the aftermath of a storm that hit Connecticut and much of the New England states. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle)

NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) - As electricity returns and highways reopen, some Northeast residents are getting back to their weekday routines following the massive snowstorm that had millions digging out from New York to Maine.

But the routine for other New Englanders will be disrupted by school and workplace closings. For some there's also a new worry: the danger of roof collapses as rain and warmer weather melts snow.

The storm that slammed into the region with up to 3 feet of snow was blamed for at least 15 deaths in the Northeast and Canada, and brought some of the highest accumulations ever recorded. Still, coastal areas were largely spared catastrophic damage despite being lashed by strong waves and hurricane-force wind gusts at the height of the storm.

Hundreds of people, their homes without heat or electricity, were forced to take refuge in emergency shelters set up in schools or other places. But by early Monday, outages had dropped to 149,970 - more than 126,000 of them in Massachusetts.

"For all the complaining everyone does, people really came through," said Rich Dinsmore, 65, of Newport, R.I., who was staying at a Red Cross shelter set up in a middle school in Middletown after the power went out in his home on Friday.

Dinsmore, who has emphysema, was first brought by ambulance to a hospital after the medical equipment he relies on failed when the power went out and he had difficulty breathing.

"The police, the fire department, the state, the Red Cross, the volunteers, it really worked well," said the retired radio broadcaster and Army veteran.

Driving bans were lifted and flights resumed at major airports in the region that had closed during the storm, though many flights were still canceled Sunday. Public transit schedules were being restored.

The Boston-area public transportation system, which shut down on Friday afternoon, resumed full service on Monday - but told commuters to expect delays. The Metro-North Railroad resumed most train service on its New York and Connecticut routes while the Long Island Rail Road said commuters could expect a nearly normal schedule.

"A lot of progress has been made," said Salvatore Arena, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates Metro-North.

Some public schools canceled classes on Monday, including in Boston, Providence and on Long Island, while local governments in some areas told non-essential workers to take the day off.

On eastern Long Island, the harrowing images from New York's slice of the massive snowstorm - people stranded overnight, cars abandoned on long stretches of drift-covered highways - were slowly erased Sunday as hundreds of snowplows and heavy equipment descended to try to help clear the way for Monday's commute.

Long Island was slammed with as much as 30 inches of snow, which shut down roads, including the Long Island Expressway. A 27-mile stretch of the road was closed Sunday and but the roadway reopened Monday in time for the morning commute.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said more than a third of all the state's snow-removal equipment was sent to the area, including more than 400 plow trucks and more than 100 snowblowers, loaders and backhoes.

"The massive amount of snow left behind effectively shut down the entire region," Cuomo said.

On Sunrise Highway, which runs parallel to the Long Island Expressway, Dennis Lawrence, of Bellport, N.Y., had already spent 90 minutes digging out the car he had abandoned and had at least another 30-60 minutes to go on Sunday. He left it there Friday after getting stuck on his way home from his job in New York City.

"The car was all over the place, it just slid over and wouldn't move," the 54-year-old elevator mechanic said. "I finally decided today to come and get it."

Utility crews, some brought in from as far away as Georgia, Oklahoma and Quebec, raced to restore power. By early Monday, less than 150,000 customers still had no electricity - down from 650,000 in eight states at the height of the storm. In hardest-hit Massachusetts, officials said some of the outages might linger until Tuesday.

Boston recorded 24.9 inches of snow, making it the fifth-largest storm in the city since records were kept. The city was appealing to the state and private contractors for more front-end loaders and other heavy equipment to clear snow piles that were clogging residential streets.

The National Weather Service was forecasting rain and warmer temperatures in the region on Monday - which could begin melting some snow but also add considerable weight to snow already piled on roofs, posing the danger of collapse. Of greatest concern were flat or gently sloped roofs and officials said people should try to clear them - but only if they could do so safely.

"We don't recommend that people, unless they're young and experienced, go up on roofs," said Peter Judge, spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

In Middlefield, Conn., two cows were killed when the roof of a barn gave way under the weight of heavy snow - one of two such incidents in the state that prompted agriculture officials to issue an advisory to farmers.

Officials also continued to warn of carbon monoxide dangers in the wake of the storm.

In Boston, two people died Saturday after being overcome by carbon monoxide while sitting in running cars, including a teenager who went into the family car to stay warm while his father shoveled snow. The boy's name was not made public. In a third incident, two children were hospitalized but expected to recover. In Webster, a 60-year-old off-duty member of the Worcester Fire Department died Saturday after suffering a heart attack while clearing snow at his home.

A fire department spokesman said in each case, the tailpipes of the cars were clogged by snow.

In Maine, the Penobscot County Sheriff's office said it recovered the body of a 75-year-old man who died after the pickup he was driving struck a tree and plunged into the Penobscot River during the storm. Investigators said Gerald Crommett apparently became disoriented while driving in the blinding snow.

Christopher Mahood, 23, of Germantown, N.Y., died after his tractor went off his driveway while he was plowing snow Friday night and rolled down a 15-foot embankment.

In Massachusetts, eight teams were formed to assess damage from flooding along the state's coastline, with the hardest hit-areas including historic Plymouth and portions of Cape Cod.

"Considering the severity of the storm, the amount of snow and the wind, we've come through this pretty well," Gov. Deval Patrick told CBS's "Face The Nation" after meeting with local officials in Plymouth.

The U.S. Postal Service said that mail delivery that was suspended in the six New England states, as well as parts of New York and New Jersey, because of the snowstorm would resume Monday, where it is safe to do so.

PHOTOS ON SKYE: 20 Epic Photos From the Big Blizzard

 

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