New York/Boston - A deadly winter snowstorm was forecast to lift on Monday night after walloping the north-eastern United States, forcing the delay of Boston's Super Bowl victory parade and snarling air traffic at several major airports.
The second major storm in less than a week pummelled residents from New York City to Boston with snow, freezing rain and gusty winds. Weather conditions were a factor in at least seven deaths, including some in the Midwest where the storm hit heavily on Sunday into Monday.
Boston, already blanketed by 60cm of snow from a blizzard last week and predicted to get a further foot, set a record for the snowiest seven-day period in the city's history. The 87cm measured by 1pm on Monday surpassed the 79cm set in January 1996.
Deep snow prompted Mayor Marty Walsh to postpone by one day until Wednesday the parade to celebrate the New England Patriots' 28-24 win over the Seattle Seahawks in Sunday's Super Bowl. The snow also delayed until Wednesday jury selection for the federal trial of accused Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.
Hundreds of flights were cancelled at Boston's Logan International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey, New York's LaGuardia airport and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, according to Flightaware.com.
The National Weather Service forecast the storm would lift on Monday night and that it would be sunny in Boston on Tuesday.
Weather conditions contributed to at least seven deaths on Monday, including a woman struck and killed by a snow-plough in a Boston suburb, the death of an overnight university dining hall worker in Connecticut, four dead in highway crashes in New York and Indiana, and a snowmobile fatality in Michigan, according to officials and local media reports.
Ice caused a crowded subway train to stall on an elevated stretch of track in New York City and service was suspended or delayed on some Boston trains because of icy power lines.
So many workers - 36 percent of staff - failed to make it to the Cook County Jail in Chicago that it was put on lockdown, limiting visitation for the 9,000 inmates typically housed there, Sheriff Tom Dart said.
Snow-weary residents could take little comfort from groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, who emerged from his burrow on Monday morning in western Pennsylvania and saw his shadow. According to legend, seeing his shadow means six more weeks of winter.
Snow-plough crews in Maine, where nearly 90cm of snow fell last week, struggled to cope with the accumulation.
The NWS warned of dangerous wind chills through the coming days. “Bitterly cold weather will settle in behind this system from the Upper Midwest to New England,” it said.
The storm, which dropped more than 48cm of snow at O'Hare airport, the fifth biggest snow event recorded in Chicago, prompted some city residents to use the traditional “dibs” system to reserve dug-out parking spaces with lawn chairs, laundry baskets or other household items.
“You have to. You put time in, and time is money,” said plumber Keith Glover, 32.
If someone were to move his markers and take his spot, he said, “I'd bury the car in snow. Then they can dig it out.”
Reuters