Heavy, wet snow falls in East

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA

A winter storm dumped several inches of wet, heavy snow on parts of the eastern United States on Monday, snarling commutes and Super Bowl fans’ trips home, closing schools and government offices and cutting power.

Fat flakes fell in Philadelphia and New York, creating slushy sidewalks and streets and all but erasing all memory of Sunday’s temperatures in the 50s. The storm began moving out of the region Monday afternoon, making way for another system expected to sweep in from the Plains with ice and snow late today and early Wednesday.

The National Weather Service reported about 8 inches of snow near Frostburg, Md., while parts of southern Ohio and West Virginia got about 10 inches. Totals in the Philadelphia area ranged from 3 to 9 inches; New York saw as much as 7 inches by 3 p.m.

Government offices, courts and schools closed in parts of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and scattered power outages were reported throughout the region. Speed limits were reduced on many major highways.

In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency with travel conditions hazardous. Nonessential government employees were dismissed early.

By late afternoon, the flight-tracking website FlightAware reported more than 4,300 delayed flights and 1,900 canceled flights nationwide in cities including Philadelphia, Newark, N.J., and New York. Inbound flights to those airports were delayed one to three hours because of snow and ice.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer was among the stranded travelers after her return flight to Phoenix was canceled Monday, a spokesman said. Brewer attended the big game as part of the ceremonial handoff of hosting duties; next year’s Super Bowl is in Glendale, Ariz.

Francois Emond, of Alma, Quebec, arrived at Newark Airport at 6 a.m. Monday to find his flight home had been canceled. Wearing a Seattle Seahawks championship hat and an ear-to-ear smile, he said he didn’t care about the cancellation or the weather in light of Seattle’s victory. He planned to spend an extra night at his hotel in New York.

In Philadelphia, the airport experienced weather delays as long as four hours Monday morning.

At least two deaths and one serious injury were blamed on the storm. In western Kentucky, where the snow began falling Sunday, a man died that night when his car skidded into a snowplow. On Monday, a New York City man was fatally struck by a backhoe that was moving snow.

A 10-year-old girl was in serious condition after she was impaled by a metal rod while sledding north of Baltimore.

Another storm is likely to hit the region beginning tonight, bringing a combination of rain, freezing rain and snow, said Gary Szatkowski, a weather service meteorologist in Mount Holly, N.J.