Severe Storm Blankets Northeast

Jet Skids Off Rhode Island Runway As Snow, Ice And Wind Wallop Region, Stranding Travelers

(CBS/AP)  A pre-winter blend of snow, sleet and freezing rain cut visibility and iced over highways from the Great Lakes to New England, dumping more than 10 inches of snow in parts of Michigan and Vermont, stranding air and road travelers and causing a jetliner to skid off a runway.

In Indiana, icy roads are blamed for the deaths of a mother and her three daughters and a mounting death toll in the Midwest, reports CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker.

Near-blizzard conditions caused blackouts in Pennsylvania, reports Whitaker.

Already this morning winds are gusting up to over 40 miles per hour from Boston to New York to Philadelphia, Mike Seidel of The Weather Channel told CBS' The Early Show.

School districts across the region - including Michigan's largest, in Detroit - canceled classes for Monday. Slippery roads were blamed for two traffic deaths over the weekend in Michigan, and one each in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Before the snowfall eased up Sunday night, 10.5 inches had fallen in Michigan's Ann Arbor, and a similar amount in Jackson County, the National Weather Service said.

"It's winter," said Ann Arbor resident Linda Thelen, 53, as she and her husband dug out their home. "I expect a couple of these each year."

Most of northern Ohio was expected to remain under a wind advisory until Monday morning, with gusts as strong as 40 mph and blowing snow expected to reduce visibility for drivers near Lake Erie, the National Weather Service said.

In Rhode Island, a U.S. Airways Express Flight from Philadelphia carrying 31 passengers and three crew members slid off the runway as it tried to land at T.F. Green Airport, which got nearly 8 inches of snow, the Providence Journal reported on its Web site. No injuries were reported, but the airport had to close its runways for about 2½ hours, spokespeople told the newspaper.

The storm canceled hundreds of flights at airports in Chicago and about 300 flights at Boston's busy Logan International Airport. Flights were also canceled at airports in Portland, Maine; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Manchester, N.H.

Few major problems - though plenty of delays - were reported at airports in Philadelphia and the New York area, which had braced for plenty of snow but got mostly sleet and rain.

Every available plow truck was at work in Vermont, said Reggie Brown, highway department dispatcher in Montpelier. "Everybody's out and running," he said.

A winter storm warning remained in effect until 7 a.m. Monday in upstate New York cities from Buffalo to Albany. Parts of Franklin County had more than 15 inches.

Braving the elements Sunday in New York were fans of teen singer Hannah Montana, whose concert in Rochester drew Jolene Horton and her 8-year-old daughter, Paxtyn Brown.

They spent five hours on the road from Schuyler County in the Finger Lakes. "Normally it would have taken 2 1/2 hours, but we wouldn't have missed it for the world," Horton said.

AAA Michigan said it helped more than 3,000 motorists on Sunday. Most had spun out, gotten stuck in a ditch or couldn't start their vehicles, spokeswoman Nancy Cain said.

Many churches hit by the storm canceled Sunday morning services as law enforcement officials encouraged motorists to stay off the roads, if possible, until conditions improved.

The storm led several museums, such as the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Port Huron Museum, to close their doors for the day because of the weather.

University of Michigan's winter commencement in nearby Ann Arbor was held as scheduled on Sunday afternoon. Rasheed Mathis, 27, drove from Detroit to see his cousin graduate.

"It was nasty," he said of the drive. "Just nasty, but he came to see me graduate and I wanted to be there for him."

The storm also didn't keep fans away from the New England Patriots-New York Jets game at Foxborough, Mass., but they had to shovel off their seats in the stadium. A video of a fire roaring in a fireplace was shown on the scoreboards.

In Ohio, during the The Cleveland Browns-Buffalo Bills game, the falling snow blew in during the game and turned the field into a blizzard, Seidel told The Early Show.

In northeast Pennsylvania, ice and high winds toppled two 800-foot television towers on Penobscot Mountain in Luzerne County, knocking several stations off the air for many viewers.

The storm came less than a week after an ice storm in the Midwest and Northeast that was blamed for at least 38 deaths, mostly in traffic accidents. Thousands of homes and businesses still had no electricity in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.

In Oklahoma City on Sunday, utility crews worked to restore electricity to more than 150,000 homes and businesses that remained without power.

While the utility companies reported significant progress, it was little solace to Choctaw resident Beverly Smith, whose trailer in the southern part of the city remained without power Sunday for the seventh straight day.

"We don't have anywhere to go," said Smith, who lives in the trailer with her 15-year-old son. "We're out of money. Christmas is nine days away, and I have no hope of giving my family a Christmas all."

[gunshack1]

This global warming is the pits.

[pepperwood2]

Exactly - This another example of what Global Warming can do. Inconvenient Truth?? We ain''s seen nothing yet.

[setumstrt9]

Good thing we have global warming or this could''ve been bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lewiston14]

Some maybe many of us got luckey. It did not storm they way they thought. Sure we got some snow but not a killer. Be thankfull what you have. If your reading this you were safe and warm. Look up once in a while and say thanks. It could have been alot worse. Lew

[dowjones20k]

Well ... it is winter time ... and yes, we live in New England ... but no it was not that bad .. I have certainly seen worse ... but we are running out of places to put the snow ...

Sadly some folks just can''t seem to stay home and wait out the bad weather ... I guess when you have 4WD you think you can do anything and go anywhere, anytime ... NOT !!!

[hawksprings]

All you Human-Caused Global Warming Deniers, take note:
With Human-Caused Global Warming you can expect Blizzards in the Winter, Tornadoes and Hurricanes in the summer, droughts, floods, heat-waves, cold spells... in other words, you can expect a whole lotta weather going on!!

And it''s all YOUR FAULT!!

[moosedog66]

Global Warming??? C''mon... try December in the Northeast! It''s called Winter - it happens every year between the months of November - February.. Get used to it!

[pakaal]

I sometimes ask myself how seemingly rational people can dismissively state how amusing this all is, as if they had the backing of the great majority of the world''s leading climatologists. I certainly would never be so arrogant as to say I knew more than they do, but hey, knock yourselves out.

[pakaal]

gunshack1: This global warming is the pits.

It''s cold, so there''s no truth to global warming! I get it! Man, that one never gets old. Since you''re obviously all over this global warming farce, let''s move you up to "denying the earth revolves around the sun." Apply here:

http://fixedearth.com/

[dgrobb-2009]

For those of you who keep quoting the IPCC as the source of "worlds top Scientists" should read "Memorandum by Professor Paul Reiter, Institut Pasteur" as he discusses how the science is presented, how the scientists are picked and what happens if you disagree with the plan.

"In all the rules that were quoted, there was no mention of research experience, bibliography, citation statistics or any other criteria that would define the quality of "the worlds top scientists".
So we can all be top scientists.

[dgrobb-2009]

John Coleman the founder of "The Weather Channel" says about global warming is that it''s the"greatest scam in history". But what does he know about the weather? right?

[cmp271]

For those who can afford it, why not start sending a few gifts to be handed out in the communities who are hardest hit with the weather. Even a few toys and even other products from Bath and Body works for the adults would be nice. Maybe some of the grocery stores could chip in and send a few leftover turkeys from Thanksgiving.

Who can organize this???

Someone, let''s come up with an idea.

We need a list of communities that need some things??
CBS, get on the ball and set this up!!!

[gunnerv1]

Remember the TV Commercial with the man standing on the railroad tracks. Just listen to what he is saying. " Some say that Global..........." Just who and how many of the "Some Say" is there, "Some say" is not quantive . It''s all BS, somebody is getting rich of of this.