New York – A record storm buried sections of the Northeast under more than 2 feet of snow Sunday, frustrating thousands of marooned travelers but enthralling winter lovers who took to the streets with cross-country skis and snowshoes.
The timing of the storm helped transportation workers who plowed streets in relatively light weekend traffic and expected to have roadways ready for today’s rush hour.
All three of the major New York-area airports were closed for much of the day, and airlines canceled more than 500 inbound and departing flights – 200 each at LaGuardia and Newark, N.J., and 120 at Kennedy. By evening, Newark and Kennedy had reopened with limited service.
A Turkish Airlines flight skidded off a runway at Kennedy as it landed at 9:20 p.m. EST, but none of the 198 passengers was injured, said Steve Coleman, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
The storm came after a mild January that had people shedding jackets and ski resorts lamenting lost business.
“It’s sort of crazy because it was so warm a couple of weeks ago and now we have knee-deep snow,” said Skye Drynan, walking her dogs Bella and Forest in Manhattan.
The storm – a great crab nebula 1,200 miles long and 500 miles wide – crawled up the Eastern Seaboard overnight with winds that gusted up to 60 mph, and cloaked cities and countrysides from North Carolina to coastal Maine with 12 to more than 27 inches of snow, breaking or challenging records.
A rare display of lightning illuminated the falling snow before dawn in the New York and Philadelphia areas, producing muffled winter thunder.
The National Weather Service said 26.9 inches of snow fell in Central Park, the most for a single storm since record-keeping started in 1869. The old record was 26.4 inches in December 1947.
“We might not see anything like this again in our lifetime,” Jason Rosenfarb said as he walked with his 5-year-old daughter Haley in Central Park.
Just then, Haley jumped headfirst into the snow and said: “Help me out. There’s too much snow.”
New York officials expected to have all roads cleared – which costs the city about $1 million per inch – by this morning.
Elsewhere, 21 inches of snow fell at Columbia, Md., between Baltimore and Washington, as well as at East Brunswick, N.J.; Hartford, Conn.; and West Caln Township west of Philadelphia, the NWS said. Philadelphia’s average for a winter is about 21 inches.
The airport closures and grounded planes stranded travelers across the country. About 7,500 people were stuck at Florida’s Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, spokesman Steve Belleme said.
Twenty-four flights were canceled Sunday at Denver International Airport, including four of eight arriving from New York, five of six from Newark, one from Philadelphia, one from Washington, D.C., and two of three from Boston, according to DIA’s website.
Eleven departing flights also were canceled, according to the website.
But DIA spokesman Chuck Cannon said the day was no busier than any other Sunday.
Delta Air Lines canceled arrivals and departures at Washington; Philadelphia; Boston; Baltimore; Providence, R.I.; and Hartford.
Service in and out of New York’s Pennsylvania Station on the Long Island Rail Road was canceled, and Metro North rail service to the northern suburbs was curtailed. New Jersey Transit suspended all bus service statewide.
Amtrak reported a few cancellations and delays in the Northeast Corridor but said most trains remained in service.
Denver Post staff writer Katherine Crowell contributed to this report.
