Storm in Five Years
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With every airport in the New York area shut down, and Philadelphia forced to declare a snow emergency, travel and mass transit came to a stop while safety became a top priority.
Hundreds of flights were canceled across the region as train and bus services were halted and driving were slowed to a crawl. As fleets of snowplows battled to clear the wet, white blanket Mother Nature had draped over the region, New York called out some National Guard troops to help.
"It's too dangerous — people's lives are at stake," said bus driver James McCain after a harrowing trip into New York City from Montclair, N.J. His bus got stuck behind another skidding bus on the ramp into the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan, forcing his 11 passengers to finish the journey on foot.
Forecasters had predicted 6-18 inches, but Saturday's snowfall exceeded those estimates by noon. As much as 25 inches of snow had fallen by mid-afternoon in Randolph, N.J., in Morris County, more than a half a foot accumulated in parts of eastern Pennsylvania, and parts of western Connecticut were buried under 15 inches.
The storm reached north into New England, where state police in western Massachusetts reported near-whiteout conditions by Saturday afternoon.
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New York City's Central Park had 12 inches of snow, a record for the date. Just north of the city, suburban White Plains reported 14 inches. Newark, N.J., also collected a record with 13.7 inches and Bridgeport, Conn., had a record 9 inches.
The region's last big storm was on Jan. 7, 1996, when 19 inches of snow fell on New York City. Last winter, the city got a mere 13 inches for the entire season.
The central East Coast escaped the expected brunt of Saturday's storm because the airmass developed farther north and east than forecast. The morning sky was clear in Washington and Harrisburg, Pa., while snow extended from southern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania to the southern tip of Maine.
Kara Grossman took a train from Watertown, Mass., to Newark. "It was kind of scary looking out the windows," she said. "You couldn't see anything. It was all white. We thought we were in a cloud."
New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani discounted any speculation that the weather might cancel the New Year's Eve celebration in Times Square. "Although it's cold, it's not unbearable," he told reporters.
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Philadelphia Mayor John Street declared a snow emergency, meaning only emergency vehicles were allowed downtown.
New York Gov. George Pataki activated 180 National Guard troops with 26 vehicles to help in southeastern New York.
"You can't see any of the runways — it's completely white," would-be traveler Kristin Foschi said from a terminal at New York's LaGuardia airport. "By the time a plow completes a circle, it's covered again. It's really quite entertaining."
Clearing snow from the tarmac is a tedious, multistep process, says Lanny Rider, the manager of airport operations at LaGuardia. He says it's not as simple as just pushing the snow aside.
"We're moving mountains of snow around," Rider said. "And as soon as we build a big pile, we have to do something with that pile."
Newlyweds Tim and Tracy Scanlon of Morris Plains, N.J., were stuck at Newark International Airport because the snow grounded their flight to the Cayman Islands for their 10-day honeymoon.
"All the airport hotels are sold out. And I can't even get a limo here to pick me up," Tim Scanlon said.
Officials opened one runway at Newark about 9 p.m. New York's Kennedy International Airport reopened one runway about 6 p.m., and LaGuardia reopened for arrivals — but not departures — at 11 p.m.
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Philadelphia's airports stayed open but airlines there reported delays and cancellations. Amtrak canceled Metroliner service between New York and Washington although most other trains kept running. New Jersey Transit suspended bus service in several counties and bus service in and out of the Port Authority in Manhattan was suspended.
"This is a grand adventure," Dale Livingston of Montclair, N.J., said as his bus skidded sideways up a hill in Bloomfield, N.J.
Residents had plenty of warning that the storm would be formed by the combination of one weather system that had plastered the upper Midwest with snow and another that spread ice across the south-central states.
Highway and street crews were ready with hundreds of trucks and plows and people jammed stores as they stocked up on supplies. In Pepperell, Mass., a 15-year-old boy was killed when a snowmobile he was operating collided with a snowplow, police said.
At Don's Power Equipment Co. in Westbrook, Maine, Don Ackerman expected to sell up to 35 snow blowers Saturday ranging from $399 to $2,500 apiece.
"We've been buried here," Ackerman said. "It's unbelievable."
With a five year gap between major snow storms in the area, it had been some time since many area residents had seen their neighborhoods transformed into a winter wonderland. For some, the beauty of the spectacle was worth the temporary inconvenience.
"You don't hear a sound in the world," said Jeffrey Greene, 56, of Merion, Pa., as he walked a mile to his synagogue. "There's nothing quite like a walk in the morning with a new snow. The world seems so pure, so beautiful."
In many ways, it was a day best enjoyed by children. Seventy-five youngsters flocked to a small hill in Linwood, N.J., to fly down on sleds and toboggans.
"Even though it's not that big of a hill, it's still pretty slippery-slidey," said 14-year-old Lisa Grossman.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report
-- Uncle Bob (unclb0b@aol.com), December 31, 2000