NEW YORK – A massive late winter snowstorm pummeled the Northeast on Monday, grounding hundreds of flights, causing spin-outs, delaying trains and buses and closing school for over a million children from South Carolina to New Hampshire.
A day earlier, the same storm hammered the Southeast as it made its way north, blanketing Civil War statues and canceling hundreds of church services around the region.
By Monday, the storm had moved as far north as New Hampshire, and most areas in the storm's wake expected to see at least 8 to 12 inches of accumulation.
The blizzard-like snow — together with sleet, freezing rain and wind gusts of up to 30 mph — contributed to four deaths on roads in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and on New York's Long Island.
An accident caused a 15-mile-long traffic jam in North Carolina, where as much as a foot of snow fell, and prompted police and rescuers to go car-to-car Monday to check on the stranded motorists.
In New York City, about 7 inches of snow was recorded at Central Park by Monday morning.
New Yorkers expressed characteristic resilience, struggling to get to work and appointments, and patching together child care arrangements.
Diane Lugo, 29, of Yonkers, had to leave her two children with her mother-in-law rather than drive them to day care. She got a ride with her husband to avoid trudging 10 minutes in the slush to her bus stop.
"Getting out of the driveway was pure hell," Lugo said in Manhattan, where she works as a college admissions coordinator. "He got to work late. I'm obviously late."
Outside the Sound Shore Medical Center in New Rochelle, Emilia Rescigna struggled to push a stroller through the snow and slush. In the stroller, asleep under a plastic tent, was her 1-year-old son Adam, who had a 9 a.m. appointment with his pediatrician.
"I called the doctor's office last night and this morning, to see if the appointment was still on, but no one was in," said Rescigna, a Bronx resident. "After all this they better not tell me I have to come back."
More than 900 flights were canceled — a majority of all flights at Kennedy, Newark and LaGuardia airports, according to the Port Authority. Travelers were urged to call their carriers. Most flights in and out of Boston's Logan International Airport were scrubbed on Monday, and the aiport shut down for about 40 minutes to clear a runway. Philadelphia International Airport spokeswoman Phyllis VanIstendahl said about 44 people were stranded there overnight.
Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport remained open Monday, although a number of flights were canceled or delayed. Spokesman Jonathan Dean didn't have numbers on cancellations.
Dean says officials expected more snow, and there was concern about increasing wind speeds.
More than 10 inches of snow was on the ground in New Jersey's Atlantic and Cumberland counties by 7 a.m. Monday, while South Carolina was dealing with 8 inches. Forecasters warned that the snow may temporarily stop for a few hours before starting up again by midmorning.
Greyhound and Peter Pan bus lines canceled trips affecting travelers in and out of New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Jersey.
Dozens of schools across North Carolina, South Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Maine gave children a snow day. Public schools in Philadelphia and Boston did the same.
In New York City, 1.1 million public school students got a snow day; the last time that happened was Jan. 28, 2004.
In Fairfax, Va., Sarah Conforti, 8, said Monday's day off was just what she'd been hoping for, and planned to "make a snowman or play in the snow with my friends," she said.
Her mother, Noelle Conforti, said Sarah and her 10-year-old sister couldn't be happier about the school-free day.
"The kids are against the window, just looking out the window like a cat," she said. "It's hilarious."
Commuter trains in Boston and New York had some delays during the morning rush. And transportation officials in the Philadelphia area said the rush hour wasn't that bad, considering the slippery condiitons.
Philadelphia declared a Code Blue weather emergency, which gives officials the power to go out onto the streets and bring in homeless people to shelters because the weather conditions pose a threat of serious harm or death.
New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine said the storm could cost the state anywhere from about $2.5 million to $7 million, depending on its severity. So far, New Jersey has spent about $22 million on this winter's "frequent snow events," an amount that's about twice as much as what was budgeted for this year.
Snow was falling at up to an inch per hour across New Hampshire, where about a foot of snow was expected in places.
Transportation spokesman Bill Boynton said the snow was coming down so fast, plow crews were having trouble keeping up.
In parts of southern Maryland, strong winds were complicating cleanup efforts there, as gusts were blowing just-plowed snow right back onto roads, said Lora Rakowski, a spokeswoman with the State Highway Administration. More than 6 inches had fallen in parts of southern Maryland.
Forecasters said up to 10 inches could fall in parts of New York's Dutchess County, where eastern areas near the Connecticut border already had 8 inches by 7 a.m. Monday.
About 9 to 13 are expected inches in southern Connecticut on Monday.
Duke Energy reported about 100,000 customers without electric service early Monday in North Carolina and another 78,000 in South Carolina. Progress Energy reported more than 5,300 customers lost service in North Carolina.
In Virginia, Dominion Virginia Power said nearly 114,000 customers were without power, with more than half in the Richmond metropolitan area. Appalachian Power, which serves southwest Virginia, reported about 5,600 outages.
About 1,000 customers were without power in central Jersey.
"I thought it was over," New Yorker Clarissa Arroyo said of the winter weather. "But it's not."
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Associated Press writers Frank Eltman on Long Island, N.Y.; Jim Fitzgerald in Westchester County; Ula Ilnytzky, Tom McElroy and Amy Westfeldt in New York City; Daniel Yee and Christina Almeida in Atlanta; Rodrique Ngowi in Boston; Ben Nuckols in Baltimore; and Bruce Shipkowski and Samantha Henry in Trenton, N.J., contributed to this report.
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