US snow storm enters final stages after battering midwest and east coast

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/15/snow-storm-final-stages-midwest-east-coast

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A large winter storm that dumped snow across the US midwest and east coast swept into its final stage as it passed over New England on Sunday, with forecasters predicting a foot or more of snow in Maine.

Snowfall in the region ranged from 2 to 8in in Connecticut and Rhode Island to almost 11in in northern Massachusetts and nearly 17in on Maine's southern coast, according to the National Weather Service.

Car accidents were reported across the region, including a crash in central Pennsylvania that killed two people late Saturday morning. Police told the Altoona Mirror that an SUV was traveling too fast for weather conditions when it lost control and slid into the path of an oncoming pickup truck. The two people in the SUV died and the truck driver was seriously injured.

Roads and sidewalks around Boston left slushy by Saturday's snowfall were rapidly freezing over on Sunday morning as temperatures quickly fell to 20F (-6C).

"Not only will the storm make roads and sidewalks slippery, raising the risk for slip-and-fall incidents and auto accidents, but it is likely to cause many flight delays and cancellations," Alex Sosnowski, an AccuWeather meteorologist, said in a statement on Sunday morning.

Forty flights were canceled as of Sunday afternoon out of Logan International Airport in Boston, according to FlightAware.com.

The snowstorm comes on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year and during one of the shortest holiday buying seasons, with only four weeks separating Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The northern end of Maine could get close to 18in of snow before the storm moves on toward Canada's Atlantic Coast on Sunday night, with visibility fading, the National Weather Service said. The snow is likely to turn to freezing rain along New England's coast. Another 1 to 4in of snow could fall in western New York, and light snow showers were predicted around the Great Lakes region over the coming days.

Skiers and snowboarders throughout the northeastern New England states rejoiced in the cold, snowy weather and a chance to get out on the slopes. Mount Sunapee ski area in Newbury, New Hampshire, got a fresh 13in of snow and a big skier turnout Sunday morning, said marketing director Bruce McCloy.

"Cars are pouring into the parking lot as I look out the window," he said. "People are excited."

Utility companies reported only scattered power outages in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island and a few hundred total in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.

The snowstorm covered a huge swath of the US on Saturday, from Missouri to the east coast, causing road accidents and the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights. The same region was slammed a week ago by another massive storm system that left parts of the Mid-Atlantic and east coast shoveling out from a half-foot of snow.

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