Fierce Storm Hits Midwest and Northeast
BOSTON — The biggest snowstorm of the season roared across the Midwest and into the Northeast on Saturday, frustrating passengers booked on delayed or canceled flights nationwide and causing runs on staples at stores along the East Coast.
The storm was so fierce that by 10 p.m., Gov. Mitt Romney had declared a state of emergency for Massachusetts. Romney said the National Guard was standing by.
The storm's vengeance was centered along the coastline close to Cape Cod. Near Plymouth, an inch of snow fell in 10 minutes.
Blizzard warnings were issued for eastern New York and southern New England. Meteorologist Bill Giles of the New England Weather Service predicted a monster dump of snow.
"We're looking at potentially 20 to 30 inches here in eastern Massachusetts," Giles said. "There is rarely such thing as a normal storm, but this is one of the big ones, one of the blockbuster types in terms of the intensity with which the snow is expected to come down.
"From midnight until about 8 in the morning, we are expecting rates of 2 to as much as 4 inches per hour," he continued. "That is rare. This storm is just exploding into just a bomb of storm off the coastline."
The weather led authorities to shut down Philadelphia International Airport for about six hours, the Federal Aviation Administration reported. Bradley International Airport, near Hartford, Conn., and Westchester County Airport in New York also were closed because of the snow, the FAA said, and airlines delayed or canceled hundreds of flights to and from other East Coast airports.
The storm came down from Canada on Saturday morning and pushed its way through the Midwest, depositing up to a foot and a half of snow across Wisconsin and Michigan. Flights to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago were delayed five hours or more, the FAA said.
At Washington Dulles International Airport, officials said "some 100 or more" flights would be canceled before the winter blasts made their way out of the nation's capital. Authorities described the runways as snow-covered and said pilots were hampered by "terrible visibility."
Airports in New York remained open, though on a limited schedule, as what began as light flurries about noon turned into a driving storm by early evening. The skies were not likely to clear until midday today, leaving up to 18 inches of snow.
