Air travel stalls as blizzard unleashes fury on New York, New England
December 26, 2010 10:37 p.m. EST
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Traffic in and out of LaGuardia, JFK and Newark has been suspended, a spokeswoman says
- American cancels 171 Monday flights, after carriers canceled hundreds of flights Sunday
- Massachusetts police report numerous accidents and crawling traffic
- The storm could dump as much as 20 inches of snow and include up to 60-mph gusts
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(CNN) -- Air traffic in and out of all three of New York's major airports halted Sunday night, as that region and other parts of the East Coast braved blizzard-like conditions.Incoming and departing flights were suspended at New York's John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, as well as Newark Liberty International Airport in neighboring north New Jersey, Port Authority spokeswoman Sara Joren said.
Those airports are still considered "open" and "active," with some passengers stranded overnight due to hundreds of flight cancellations, but air traffic won't resume until Monday.
That meant those airports, like many others throughout the Northeast -- which, normally, would be crowded and flush with activity after Christmas -- had gone largely quiet by early Sunday evening. Many would-be travelers stayed away, thanks in part to many airlines' pre-emptive cancellations.
To that end, American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Sanderson said shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday that the carrier would cancel another 171 flights Monday in and out of major airports from Washington through Boston. This is on top of more than 262 flights that the airline canceled Sunday.
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Governors on Sunday declared states of emergency in Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts ahead of the approaching storm, a bid to get crews ready and expedite recovery funding depending on its impact.
The mayors of Philadelphia, Boston, Providence and Portland, Maine, also called snow emergencies, while New York City launched a winter snow storm operation and encouraged people to stay off the roads by taking mass transit or staying put.
"Unfortunately, our city is directly in the path," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday afternoon, amid a blizzard warning that extends until 6 p.m. Monday. "It's hard to stand up in a 55-mph wind, so this really is dangerous."
The storm's timing, coming over a holiday weekend, was fortuitous for some and disastrous for others. City and state officials predicted that the blizzard's impact on the economy and otherwise might be muted, because many people had the holiday weekend off and fewer were expected to be commuting into work than normal on Monday.
"With the people who are staying home for the holidays, it's great, but we know a lot of people who are trying to get home," said Brett Martin, claiming his hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia, had received almost a foot of snow. "We're just playing games and hanging out by the fire."
Snow began falling in parts of the South on Christmas, where winter weather advisories expired Sunday evening in parts of Alabama, Tennessee and the Carolinas.
All along, though, the storm system was expected to have a larger impact Sunday night and into Monday further north up the East Coast.
Along with the advisory for suburban New York City, blizzard warnings are in effect for Virginia and Maryland's Eastern Shore through 5 a.m. Monday, with the National Weather Service predicting the heaviest bands of snow hitting around 10 p.m. and eventually piling up between 10 and 15 inches. The New Jersey shore's warning runs through 1 p.m. Monday.
"It does appear like the worst weather will be in the vicinity of the New York City area northeastward into the Boston area," said National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Oravec. "We do expect the winds to pick up."
Metropolitan New York could see between 15 and 20 inches of accumulating snow, with sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph and sporadically stronger gusts especially along Long Island, the weather agency predicts.
The Connecticut coast, Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts, coastal New Hampshire and Maine also have a blizzard warning in effect through Monday evening, with expected snowfall of 12 to 16 inches and wind gusts reaching 60 mph.
Snow covers the ground on Christmas Day in Rutherfordton, North Carolina.
"It was dangerous for the players, dangerous for the fans," said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who called a state of emergency in anticipation of up to 14 inches of snow. "People still have to get out of the parking lot (and get in) their cars."
Nancy White, a AAA spokesman, said that 93 million Americans were expected to travel between Christmas and New Year's -- with nine out of 10 of them doing so by car.
"Hopefully, people will have a little bit of luxury and can take some time to stay grounded and stay safe tonight," she said.
While the worst wasn't expected for another 10 or so hours, the Massachusetts State Police reported around 7:30 p.m. Sunday that heavy snow was already falling, including whiteout conditions already in some locales. That contributed to traffic moving at a crawl in and around Greater Boston, with state troopers reporting minor crashes and spinouts.
The state's governor, Deval Patrick, told reporters earlier in the day that 1,000 plows, sand and salt trucks were working to keep state roads clear and that as many as 4,000 would be deployed as the storm worsens. He also warned of possible overnight flooding along Massachusetts Bay, with the danger peaking when high tide hits around 3:30 a.m. Monday.
"We expect visibility to be very low and travel to be extremely dangerous," Patrick said.
The system has already put a wrench in the travel plans for thousands of air passengers trying to get home after the holiday week, with more cancellations expected.
As of Sunday afternoon, as many as 1,000 flights had been canceled at New York's LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International Airport and New Jersey's Newark International Airport, according to Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman.
Coleman said that there was "very, very limited flight traffic" as of 4 p.m. at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, as airlines decided to cancel flights and get their planes out of the region ahead of the storm. That's left airports that otherwise would have been packed with people relatively quiet.
"For the most part, people have heeded the warnings ... and they've stayed put," he said. "Hopefully, they'll ride it out."
In addition to the American announcement, Delta Air Lines canceled 850 flights as of Sunday morning from the Carolinas through the northeast, roughly one-sixth of the typical 5,000 flight total for the day.
As of late Sunday morning, Continental Airlines, which is partnered with United Airlines, had canceled about 265 domestic mainline and regional departures for Sunday, spokesman Andrew J. Ferraro said.
"There's nothing you can do," said Michelle Forsyth, an assembly line worker for Lockheed-Martin, whose flight from New York to Dallas was canceled. "Be patient and let the weather do what it's going to do."
Those carriers, as well as AirTran Airways, are among the carriers waiving penalties for travelers who have to reschedule their trips over the weekend.
While specific information varies by carrier, most are offering penalty waivers for passengers traveling on December 26 and 27 at airports from North Carolina to Boston and beyond. Affected customers are being urged to contact the relevant airline either by phone or online.
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At South Station, passengers grapple with surprise shutdown by Amtrak
Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said all trains between Boston and New York will be canceled as of 5 p.m. today.
"Blizzard like conditions associated with a major winter storm continues to impact a large portion of east coast," Cole said in a statement. "This has caused Amtrak to make several service adjustments including the cancellation Northeast Corridor service between Boston and New York beginning later this afternoon."
In addition, Cole said all Downeaster service between Portland, Maine and Boston has also been canceled for today.
At South Station, where all Amtrak service from Boston to Washington D.C was canceled after 5 p.m., would-be passengers bundled with their luggage waited in line to reschedule their travel plans.
"Blizzard like conditions associated with a major winter storm continues to impact a large portion of east coast," Cole said in a statement. "This has caused Amtrak to make several service adjustments including the cancellation Northeast Corridor service between Boston and New York beginning later this afternoon."
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At South Station, where all Amtrak service from Boston to Washington D.C was canceled after 5 p.m., would-be passengers bundled with their luggage waited in line to reschedule their travel plans.
Alexis Ostnioff was trying to get home to New York City after her flight out of Logan International was canceled today. She then bought an Amtrak ticket via Washington D.C. but was left stranded with the cancellation of that train.
“I tried to get an earlier flight, but then I said ‘oh I’ll just take the train,’” the 30-year-old said. “I thought it would be the best shot.”
Ostnioff, who was visiting family in Medford for Christmas was tentatively rebooked on a 5:10 train tomorrow morning. She said she wasn’t sure if she was going to stay in a hotel near the station or bother her family to pick her up for the night. She said this was the first time her holiday travel plans had hit a serious snag because of weather.
“I’ve been lucky in the past avoiding this around a Nor’easter but I guess my time has come,” she said.
All MBTA commuter rail service at South Station appeared to be running on time.
Amtrak spokesman Cole said he was unsure at this time when the canceled service would resume.
"It's unknown at this time," Cole said. " We're going to look at the operations plan and come up with a plan for the morning."
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With the great abyss of winter yet to be crossed, forecasters in advance were reaching for superlatives, saying it was likely to be one of the biggest blows of the season, with wind gusts up to 55 miles an hour and snow two feet deep in spots. The National Weather Service predicted snowfalls of 16 to 20 inches in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut by Monday afternoon, when the storm was to taper off.
Its timing was diabolical — too late for a white Christmas, but just in time to disrupt the travel plans of thousands trying to get home after the holiday, to return unwanted gifts or to take advantage of post-holiday bargains at stores. Schools were not in session, but millions of commuters were told to expect nightmarish slogs in and around the cities.
By Sunday evening, the storm had already been blamed for at least one death, after a driver slammed into a utility pole in Mt. Olive Township, N.J., according to the police there.
Blizzard warnings — official forecasts of huge snowfalls with sustained winds of 35 miles an hour — were in effect from the Carolinas to New England. North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey declared states of emergency, and New York, Philadelphia and Boston declared snow emergencies, imposing parking bans on major thoroughfares and urging residents to stay off the roads.
The weather service called it the biggest storm in the region since last February, when record snowfalls paralyzed the mid-Atlantic states but largely spared New York City, and the first blizzard since Feb. 12, 2006, when the 24-hour record for Central Park, 26.9 inches, was set.
The snow began falling in New York in late morning, and by 5 p.m. it had already eclipsed the average of 3.3 inches for the month of December.
Through the afternoon, the storm grew into an adventure. The snow came down in great sweeping curtains, drifting over parked cars and park benches to be sculpted into aerodynamic shapes.
Everywhere, the winds whispered and moaned in their secret Ice Age language. The blizzard spawned lightning flashes and thunder. Yet the sounds of the city were strangely muffled and distant. Sledders, snowboarders, hikers and even a few skiers were soon out, cutting fresh trails along the marbled Hudson or in the wilderness of Central Park.
The surrounding skylines were lost in the whiteout, and the playing fields of the Great Lawn might have been the plains of Nebraska or a steppe.
It was not a bad day to stay at home with the paper and watch the storm through panes etched with frost.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, wearing a bomber jacket and wheezing with a cold at a late-afternoon news conference, called it a dangerous storm that could down trees, disrupt railroad signal systems and pose hazards for drivers and the homeless.
“The latest reports are qualifying this storm as a blizzard, and unfortunately our city is directly in its path,” Mr. Bloomberg said.
The mayor said major roads would be cleared by plows overnight, but he urged commuters to take mass transit on Monday. The Long Island Rail Road suspended service late Sunday night, but its trains were expected to run on a holiday schedule on Monday. Metro-North said it would operate Monday using a Sunday schedule. New Jersey Transit suspended all bus service Sunday night. (Read the latest updates on the status of mass transit.)
Amtrak, citing problems with high winds that affect signals, switches and overhead wires, canceled trains south of Washington to Richmond and Newport News, Va., and later those between New York and Boston, although service between Washington and New York was not affected.
“Better to have people stay safe where they are, despite the inconvenience,” Cliff Cole, an Amtrak spokesman, said of the cancellations.
Air travel was virtually impossible. More than 2,000 flights were canceled by major airlines on the Eastern Seaboard, 1,444 of them at Kennedy International and La Guardia Airports in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Spillback cancellations affected hundreds of other flights from Chicago and Atlanta, and even from London and Paris.
By Sunday night, Kennedy and Newark had suspended all flights, and few were operating out of La Guardia.
One terminal at Kennedy was transformed into a campsite of refugees. Entire families rested on stacks of luggage, slept on the floor in sleeping bags, watched movies on laptops and ate lunches on suitcases. People streamed to information booths, but it was hopeless: Boards listed nearly all flights as canceled.
On the AirTrain to Kennedy from Jamaica, travelers told their tales of woe and hope. Luciana and Marcelo Dossa were bound for Austin, Tex., after a week’s visit to New York. Their American Airlines flight had been scratched, but they went to the airport on the chance that something else might turn up. “We decided to come anyway because we need to find a way to get home,” Mrs. Dossa said.
People who ventured out in cars found major roads plowed but slippery; the police reported many spinouts and minor accidents on Sunday. Many bus carriers canceled service between Washington and Boston, where the New England Aquarium bubble-wrapped its four 5-foot penguin ice sculptures to protect them from the elements.
In Philadelphia, where 20 inches of snow was expected, the National Football League postponed the Eagles-Vikings game from Sunday night to Tuesday night. League officials said the last time a forecast of heavy snow changed a scheduled outdoor game was in 1932, when the league championship game between the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans was moved indoors.
The Washington area, which had a series of rare snowstorms last winter, was largely spared by this one, an enclave of serenity in the crocodile-shaped mass that crawled up the Atlantic Coast. The weather service, which had predicted 6 to 10 inches of snow for the capital region, scaled it back at midday to 1 to 2 inches, and Ronald Reagan and Dulles International Airports remained open with normal service.
For retailers, who had enjoyed a big run-up to the holiday, there was a chill in the day-after-Christmas sales, traditionally one of the year’s biggest shopping days. In Brooklyn, the Atlantic Terminal Mall had only a smattering of customers, not the usual day-after frenzy.
Rebecca Godfrey, 28, a manager at Dead Sea Spa skin care kiosk, said that in 40 minutes only three people stopped in, and only one made a purchase. On the same day last year, she said, 40 to 50 visited, and half bought products. “Usually the day after Christmas is like my favorite day to work,” Ms. Godfrey said. “But today I just felt like being home.”
At the Doubletree Hotel in Times Square, three generations of the stranded Braceras family from Miami — 11 members in all — were sprawled in the lobby with suitcases, and dwindling options. They should have been on the ski slopes of Vermont, starting a weeklong vacation. But their connecting flight had been canceled, and hopes for a car service had been dashed.
At least they had a room upstairs. Sue Braceras, the matriarch, presided as her brood talked of an impromptu sightseeing tour, perhaps with stops at Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes, and to the American Girl shop on Fifth Avenue. But it was all doubtful.
“We’re going to have a ball,” Elizabeth Campo, one of the adult daughters, said through gritted teeth as five children scampered among the suitcases. “My husband went to the room already with the baby. He said he’s not leaving the room for two days.”
“I tried to get an earlier flight, but then I said ‘oh I’ll just take the train,’” the 30-year-old said. “I thought it would be the best shot.”
Ostnioff, who was visiting family in Medford for Christmas was tentatively rebooked on a 5:10 train tomorrow morning. She said she wasn’t sure if she was going to stay in a hotel near the station or bother her family to pick her up for the night. She said this was the first time her holiday travel plans had hit a serious snag because of weather.
“I’ve been lucky in the past avoiding this around a Nor’easter but I guess my time has come,” she said.
All MBTA commuter rail service at South Station appeared to be running on time.
Amtrak spokesman Cole said he was unsure at this time when the canceled service would resume.
"It's unknown at this time," Cole said. " We're going to look at the operations plan and come up with a plan for the morning."
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Huge Blizzard Snarls Travel and Transit in the Northeast
Andrew Burton for The New York Times
At Kennedy and the other two major airports in the New York area, more than 1,400 flights were canceled on Sunday. Amtrak canceled trains between New York and Boston. More Photos »
By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
Published: December 26, 2010
A monster two-day blizzard barreled up the coast and invaded the New York region and the Northeast on Sunday with barrages of wind-driven snow that closed airports, disrupted rail and highway travel and transformed a dozen states into enchanted and borderless white dreamscapes.
Related
-
City Room: A Blizzard Transportation Guide (December 26, 2010)
Your Photos: Its timing was diabolical — too late for a white Christmas, but just in time to disrupt the travel plans of thousands trying to get home after the holiday, to return unwanted gifts or to take advantage of post-holiday bargains at stores. Schools were not in session, but millions of commuters were told to expect nightmarish slogs in and around the cities.
By Sunday evening, the storm had already been blamed for at least one death, after a driver slammed into a utility pole in Mt. Olive Township, N.J., according to the police there.
Blizzard warnings — official forecasts of huge snowfalls with sustained winds of 35 miles an hour — were in effect from the Carolinas to New England. North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey declared states of emergency, and New York, Philadelphia and Boston declared snow emergencies, imposing parking bans on major thoroughfares and urging residents to stay off the roads.
The weather service called it the biggest storm in the region since last February, when record snowfalls paralyzed the mid-Atlantic states but largely spared New York City, and the first blizzard since Feb. 12, 2006, when the 24-hour record for Central Park, 26.9 inches, was set.
The snow began falling in New York in late morning, and by 5 p.m. it had already eclipsed the average of 3.3 inches for the month of December.
Through the afternoon, the storm grew into an adventure. The snow came down in great sweeping curtains, drifting over parked cars and park benches to be sculpted into aerodynamic shapes.
Everywhere, the winds whispered and moaned in their secret Ice Age language. The blizzard spawned lightning flashes and thunder. Yet the sounds of the city were strangely muffled and distant. Sledders, snowboarders, hikers and even a few skiers were soon out, cutting fresh trails along the marbled Hudson or in the wilderness of Central Park.
The surrounding skylines were lost in the whiteout, and the playing fields of the Great Lawn might have been the plains of Nebraska or a steppe.
It was not a bad day to stay at home with the paper and watch the storm through panes etched with frost.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, wearing a bomber jacket and wheezing with a cold at a late-afternoon news conference, called it a dangerous storm that could down trees, disrupt railroad signal systems and pose hazards for drivers and the homeless.
“The latest reports are qualifying this storm as a blizzard, and unfortunately our city is directly in its path,” Mr. Bloomberg said.
The mayor said major roads would be cleared by plows overnight, but he urged commuters to take mass transit on Monday. The Long Island Rail Road suspended service late Sunday night, but its trains were expected to run on a holiday schedule on Monday. Metro-North said it would operate Monday using a Sunday schedule. New Jersey Transit suspended all bus service Sunday night. (Read the latest updates on the status of mass transit.)
Amtrak, citing problems with high winds that affect signals, switches and overhead wires, canceled trains south of Washington to Richmond and Newport News, Va., and later those between New York and Boston, although service between Washington and New York was not affected.
“Better to have people stay safe where they are, despite the inconvenience,” Cliff Cole, an Amtrak spokesman, said of the cancellations.
Air travel was virtually impossible. More than 2,000 flights were canceled by major airlines on the Eastern Seaboard, 1,444 of them at Kennedy International and La Guardia Airports in New York and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. Spillback cancellations affected hundreds of other flights from Chicago and Atlanta, and even from London and Paris.
By Sunday night, Kennedy and Newark had suspended all flights, and few were operating out of La Guardia.
One terminal at Kennedy was transformed into a campsite of refugees. Entire families rested on stacks of luggage, slept on the floor in sleeping bags, watched movies on laptops and ate lunches on suitcases. People streamed to information booths, but it was hopeless: Boards listed nearly all flights as canceled.
On the AirTrain to Kennedy from Jamaica, travelers told their tales of woe and hope. Luciana and Marcelo Dossa were bound for Austin, Tex., after a week’s visit to New York. Their American Airlines flight had been scratched, but they went to the airport on the chance that something else might turn up. “We decided to come anyway because we need to find a way to get home,” Mrs. Dossa said.
People who ventured out in cars found major roads plowed but slippery; the police reported many spinouts and minor accidents on Sunday. Many bus carriers canceled service between Washington and Boston, where the New England Aquarium bubble-wrapped its four 5-foot penguin ice sculptures to protect them from the elements.
In Philadelphia, where 20 inches of snow was expected, the National Football League postponed the Eagles-Vikings game from Sunday night to Tuesday night. League officials said the last time a forecast of heavy snow changed a scheduled outdoor game was in 1932, when the league championship game between the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans was moved indoors.
The Washington area, which had a series of rare snowstorms last winter, was largely spared by this one, an enclave of serenity in the crocodile-shaped mass that crawled up the Atlantic Coast. The weather service, which had predicted 6 to 10 inches of snow for the capital region, scaled it back at midday to 1 to 2 inches, and Ronald Reagan and Dulles International Airports remained open with normal service.
For retailers, who had enjoyed a big run-up to the holiday, there was a chill in the day-after-Christmas sales, traditionally one of the year’s biggest shopping days. In Brooklyn, the Atlantic Terminal Mall had only a smattering of customers, not the usual day-after frenzy.
Rebecca Godfrey, 28, a manager at Dead Sea Spa skin care kiosk, said that in 40 minutes only three people stopped in, and only one made a purchase. On the same day last year, she said, 40 to 50 visited, and half bought products. “Usually the day after Christmas is like my favorite day to work,” Ms. Godfrey said. “But today I just felt like being home.”
At the Doubletree Hotel in Times Square, three generations of the stranded Braceras family from Miami — 11 members in all — were sprawled in the lobby with suitcases, and dwindling options. They should have been on the ski slopes of Vermont, starting a weeklong vacation. But their connecting flight had been canceled, and hopes for a car service had been dashed.
At least they had a room upstairs. Sue Braceras, the matriarch, presided as her brood talked of an impromptu sightseeing tour, perhaps with stops at Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes, and to the American Girl shop on Fifth Avenue. But it was all doubtful.
“We’re going to have a ball,” Elizabeth Campo, one of the adult daughters, said through gritted teeth as five children scampered among the suitcases. “My husband went to the room already with the baby. He said he’s not leaving the room for two days.”
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