Storm Brings Wintry Misery Across U.S.

A Quarter Million Without Power; More Than 1,000 Flights Cancelled; Retailers Slammed

(CBS/AP)  A winter storm packing snow, freezing rain and biting wind cut power to thousands of customers Friday, disrupted travel and gave schoolchildren from Iowa to New England an early start on their holiday break.

The storm dropped as much as 10 inches of snow in parts of Illinois before moving on to blast the Northeast, reported Early Show weather anchor Dave Price.

It left a quarter million people without power in the Midwest Friday night, Price reported.

"One thing about it, you're going to have a white Christmas this year," said Lee Longdyke, as he shoveled a sidewalk in Pontiac, Mich., for the third time Friday morning.

More than 300 flights were canceled at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, and more than 600 at three New York City-area airports.

Runways at Milwaukee's airport were closed for much of the morning because snowplows could not keep up with "whiteout conditions," airport spokeswoman Pat Rowe said.

Snowfall affected a large region, but the worst of the ice storm and resulting power outages - was in a band across northern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Power companies reported 60,000 customers in Illinois without service Friday, more than 35,000 in Ohio, and a whopping 180,000 in Indiana, where the area around Fort Wayne was particularly hard-hit.

"When you combine ice, which is an electric utility's nightmare, with wind, you've got some serious issues," said Indiana Michigan Power spokesman Mark Brian.

Freezing rain was also a problem in Iowa, but authorities there said only scattered power outages were reported, because there wasn't much wind to bring ice-laden tree limbs down onto power lines.

"Mud, slush and everything: it's just been a battle," Chicago snowplow driver Mike Fabian told Price during a 13-hour shift, adding, "We own the rest of America when it comes to battling snow."

Up to a foot of snow was forecast across much of Michigan, and some areas reported wind gusts of up to 25 to 30 mph. Nearly 8 inches of snow had fallen in Detroit by midafternoon.

Schools were closed across the region. The Toledo Zoo was forced to cancel its holiday season light show for Friday evening.

The storm has also been a bane to retailers, Price reported. About 12 percent of all holiday shopping is normally done on the weekend before Christmas. Many business owners say that the lost business in this critical period simply won't be made up later.

In the Northeast, hard hit by last week's ice storm, snowfall totals of up to 15 inches were forecast. Biting, wind-whipped snow began late morning in White Plains, N.Y.


"I thought I had enough on," said Gloria D'Arce, 29, as she tried to keep out of the wind while waiting for a light to change. "But this is coming sideways, right in my face. I'm, like, two blocks from my car and I feel like I'm not going to make it."

The evening rush-hour jam began a few hours early in Rochester, N.Y., where 6 inches of snow had already fallen by midafternoon.

Snow totals for New York City were expected to top out around 5 inches, reports WCBS-2 in New York.

Fearing afternoon traffic jams, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick asked nonessential state employees Friday morning to stay home.

In New Hampshire, several thousand homes and businesses were still in the dark more than a week after last week's storm. As authorities prepared for the new storm, Gov. John Lynch said the state hoped to get utilities to improve their communication with customers in the future.

"I certainly understand that people in New Hampshire are cold, they're tired, and in many cases they're frustrated, especially with Christmas coming," Lynch said.

On Wednesday and Thursday, wintry weather had made life miserable in parts of the West. A record December snowfall of 3.6 inches was recorded in Las Vegas, while in Spokane, Wash., nearly 2 feet of snow fell and more was in the forecast for this weekend.

[barbaram99]

She may be new to posting here and yep the button is hard to see. Really folks. Having the weather that turnt bad we all should think and do, I am from Maine and growing up we had lots of blankets to pile under. It got alot colder then . People don''t ''member the snow years ago. I am 54. What it is we have had very little this weather. We had tons of snow years ago in New England. It was normal. Now it is rear and people don''t know what to make of it. I have not seen a white Chistmas in ages.

[momafivekids]

Hey I didn''t realize my post took to the comment section before...the button kept blacking out and then it didn''t refresh and show the posting. Sorry for the repeated copy below!!!

[momafivekids]

We''re in the Pacific Northwest and just got about 5 inches of snow still frozen to the roads - and now I can''t believe we''re supposed to get hit now with a high wind storm with 50-70 mph winds and snow tomorrow - it sounds like a blizzard. People could be without power for days after this, with freezing temps. People need to prepare as much as possible...these are some of the conditions that make disaster kits handy because they come with flashlights, emergency blankets, radios w/ batteries, and a whole lot more...they also make a great gift for the holidays considering we''re not the only ones experiencing severe weather. We got one of the kits sold at the Disaster Rx online - they have all kinds of emergency stuff in them. It''s just a good idea for everyone to have something like that around.

[andylance1]

More evidence of global cooling - Record snow fall -
How could we fall for that global con man, Al Gore?

* Marquette, Mich.: (old: 11.9"/2000); new: 15.5"
* Milwaukee, Wis.: (old: 4.8"/1934); new: 11.4"
* Madison, Wis.: (old: 2.9"/1895); new: 10.3"
* Grand Rapids, Mich.: (old: 4.5"/1975); new: 10.2"
* Muskegon, Mich.: (old: 7.3"/1989); new: 9.3"
* Buffalo, N.Y.: (old: 8.3"/1985); new: 8.8"
* Albany, N.Y.: (old: 4.2"/1986); new: 7.8"

[lloydbest1]

Posted by BarbaraM99 at 05:07 PM : Dec 19, 2008
Posted by MomAFiveKids at 09:58 PM : Dec 19, 2008

I live just a few hundred miles to the south....Later on today things should get very interesting for you folks. A deepening low spinning off its Gulf of Alaska parent is expected to bring snow, sleet, freezing rain or any combination of all three.
Barbara, you ought to hang on to your cough syrup because Seattle could get anywhere from 3 inches to a foot and a half depending on where you live....
I should mention wind. In wind favored spots, such as east-west running river valleys up and down the west flank of the Cascades, the weather dudes (and dudesses) are forcasting steady gales of up to 50 mph and momentary gusts approaching 65. MomAFiveKids''s point about power outages is a good one. With wind speeds fit to do any Grand Banks fisherman proud, I can''t imagine the Puget Sound region getting away from this without at least a few.
For those of you concerned, this web site, http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/sew/ will provide more detail than I have space for.
Anyone living north of the Columbia River....you have about 10-12 hours from the time I hit the "send" key to batten down. They (those anonomous plural people) say this storm will be a nasty one that could rival last year''s Great Coastal Gale in intensity, if not in size or duration

[juwboy]

Gaye5:

In a similar vein to your Comment....

We all might ask ourselves the question:

Which of the following two extreme climate situations causes more deaths?

(A) a cold winter
(B) a hot summer

The answer is (A) by a huge margin.

So, why aren`t we doing everything we possibly can to promote and accelerate global warming until the two numbers are comparable.

That`s when our planet will have its ideal optimum temperature.

IF carbon dioxide is really the cause of global warming, we should be producing more of it, not less.

[momafivekids]

We''re in the Pacific Northwest and just got about 5 inches of snow still frozen to the roads - and now I can''t believe we''re supposed to get hit now with a high wind storm with 50-70 mph winds and snow tomorrow - it sounds like a blizzard. People could be without power for days after this, with freezing temps. People need to prepare as much as possible...these are some of the conditions that make disaster kits handy because they come with flashlights, emergency blankets, radios w/ batteries, and a whole lot more...they also make a great gift for the holidays considering we''re not the only ones experiencing severe weather. We got one of the kits sold at the Disaster Rx website - they have all kinds of emergency stuff in them. It''s just a good idea for everyone to have something like that around.

[momafivekids]

We''re in the Pacific Northwest and just got about 5 inches of snow still frozen to the roads - and now I can''t believe we''re supposed to get hit now with a high wind storm with 50-70 mph winds and snow tomorrow - it sounds like a blizzard. People could be without power for days after this, with freezing temps. People need to prepare as much as possible...these are some of the conditions that make disaster kits handy because they come with flashlights, emergency blankets, radios w/ batteries, and a whole lot more...they also make a great gift for the holidays considering we''re not the only ones experiencing severe weather. We got one of the kits sold at the DisasterRx website - they have all kinds of emergency stuff in them. It''s just a good idea for everyone to have something like that around.

[momafivekids]

We''re in the Pacific Northwest and just got about 5 inches of snow still frozen to the roads - and now I can''t believe we''re supposed to get hit now with a high wind storm with 50-70 mph winds and snow tomorrow - it sounds like a blizzard. People could be without power for days after this, with freezing temps. People need to prepare as much as possible...these are some of the conditions that make disaster kits handy because they come with flashlights, emergency blankets, radios w/ batteries, and a whole lot more...they also make a great gift for the holidays considering we''re not the only ones experiencing severe weather. We got one of the kits sold at the DisasterRx website - they have all kinds of emergency stuff in them. It''s just a good idea for everyone to have something like that around.

[momafivekids]

We''re in the Pacific Northwest and just got about 5 inches of snow still frozen to the roads - and now I can''t believe we''re supposed to get hit now with a high wind storm with 50-70 mph winds and snow tomorrow - it sounds like a blizzard. People could be without power for days after this, with freezing temps. People need to prepare as much as possible...these are some of the conditions that make disaster kits handy because they come with flashlights, emergency blankets, radios w/ batteries, and a whole lot more...they also make a great gift for the holidays considering we''re not the only ones experiencing severe weather. We got one of the kits sold at the DisasterRx website - they have all kinds of emergency stuff in them. It''s just a good idea for everyone to have something like that around.