The harshest storm of a relentless winter attacked the New York region yesterday with a foot or more of new snow that crippled transportation, business and education, redesigned city and suburban landscapes and deepened the sense of siege for millions trapped in a dazzling but difficult season.
The storm -- a swirling comma that obliterated the Northeast and mid-Atlantic states and trailed off to the Southeast -- shut down the Long Island Rail Road and Kennedy and Newark International Airports; disrupted air, rail, bus and highway travel across the region, closed suburban schools and all but emergency government services, and turned commerce into chaos from candy stores to Wall Street.
Winter's 12th Big Blow
The 12th big blow of the snowiest winter in a decade began before dawn in the metropolitan area and continued all day, often dropping snow at a rate of more than an inch an hour. When the snow stopped in and around New York City last night, accumulations had reached 11.7 inches in Central Park, 10 inches at Kennedy and La Guardia Airports, 12.4 inches in Bridgeport, Conn., and 19 inches in Newark, which broke a 1983 record for the date in that city.
The new snow came atop the 9 to 12 inches that fell on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the heaviest accumulations in a narrow band over northern New Jersey, New York City and southern New England. Outside that band, in southern New Jersey, upstate New York and most of New England, the snow was much lighter.
By late last night, as the storm moved to the northeast, 9.1 inches of snow had fallen in Hartford, Conn., 13 inches in Newport, R.I., 9.7 inches in Providence and 7.5 inches in Boston.
A respite was expected today, but some forecasters warned of the possibility of more snow tomorrow. The National Weather Service predicted a cloudy but warmer day today, with temperatures in the mid- to upper 30's, a chance of rain late tonight and showers tomorrow with temperatures in the 40's.
Warnings of More Snow
Forecasters at Pennsylvania State University also called for cloudy but warmer today, but predicted freezing rain tonight and more snow tomorrow, with possible additional accumulations of several inches.
For anyone counting yesterday, there were still 37 days until spring -- a square of hope on a calendar that seemed as distant as the memory of yellow forsythia and apple-green shoots on a hillside. But the reality was snow and wind, ice and numbing cold: the biggest storm of a stormy year.
"Today is a difficult day for New Yorkers," Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said after venturing out to observe plowing operations and then declaring a snow emergency that banned vehicles without snow tires or chains from major roads. "But it is also a day New Yorkers prove how strong and resilient they are."
Across the area, visibility was reduced almost to zero at times, and driving in the whiteout was slow and treacherous. One woman was killed in a car-truck crash on a snowy road in New Brunswick, N.J., and numerous minor accidents were reported on icy highways. In Belvidere, N.J., the snow -laden roof of a firehouse collapsed, damaging the town's entire four-truck firefighting fleet.
It was also a day of hardship and misery for thousands of stranded travelers who jammed hotels and terminals, for people without homes or heat and others who worked long hours to plow or shovel the mounting drifts. About 12,000 people were without power in southern New Jersey as icy branches felled power lines.
A Source of Pleasure
But for many it was a day off to ski or skate, to sit at a window and admire the wild beauty of Whittier's snowbound American landscape, or to stroll in a park or down a nearly deserted street, taking in winter wonders: comic snowy caps on heroic statues, cars buried in the snow like the machines of some lost civilization, the wind rising and falling like a chorus in the storm.
Outside the New York area, the storm closed the Federal Government in Washington, stranded travelers in many Eastern Seaboard cities under its barrage of snow and freezing rain, caused countless highway accidents and left tens of thousands without electricity in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Louisiana as trees laden with ice and snow toppled power lines. Thousands of air travelers wound up in Bangor, Me., where many flights were diverted.
In New York City, commodity exchanges, brokerages, government offices and many businesses closed early; theaters and restaurants had only a scattering of patrons, while those around terminals were crowded. But some businesses in New York remained open while branches in other cities in the East closed.
"The whole East Coast is shutting down, but Manhattan and New York City still at least have a beating heart," said Mitchell Moss, director of New York University's Urban Research Center.
Deserted Classrooms
Unlike nearly all suburban school districts, which were closed for the day, the city's public schools were open -- they rarely close for bad weather because working parents have nowhere to send children -- but many classrooms were all but deserted as students and even many teachers stayed home.
The decision to keep the schools open was protested by Sandra Feldman, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, and by many principals and teachers as well. "We're just babysitting and serving lunch," said a Queens teacher, who noted that only 50 of 650 children showed up at her school.
But Mr. Giuliani supported the decision of Schools Chancellor Ramon C. Cortines to keep the schools open, saying that it "recognizes the reality of a million children with different circumstances."
The Long Island Rail Road was paralyzed most of the day. Snowdrifts on the rails forced the railroad to suspend service twice during the storm, stranding thousands of commuters at Pennsylvania Station and at its Jamaica and Flatbush Avenue stations.
With drifts 2 to 3 feet high on the tracks, the L.I.R.R. was unable to get power from electrified rails, and attempts to shovel them away were frustrated by fast-falling snow. For the morning rush, travel on the railroad was slow, with some trains delayed up to 90 minutes, and when commuters reached the city they found themselves unable to get home.
L.I.R.R. Shuts Down
From 11 A.M. to 2 P.M., there was no L.I.R.R. service out of Penn Station or Flatbush Avenue, and after 3:15 P.M. service was again suspended, this time indefinitely, except for what a spokesman called "extremely limited" diesel trains on a few lines.
Meantime, huge crowds jammed Penn Station and Flatbush Avenue. Hundreds stood in lines at telephones, trying to call relatives, employers and friends.
Riders on intercity Amtrak trains -- many of them people whose airline flights had been canceled -- swelled the crowds at Penn Station; Amtrak added cars and combined trains to accomodate the passenger load and many trains ran hours late.
The Long Island Rail Road's Jamaica Station in Queens looked like a refugee camp, with hundreds of stranded riders waiting in the cold, grumbling about numb toes and the fate of commuters. "It's overcrowded to the point of being dangerous," one official of the railroad said.
With many businesses closing early in the storm, Grand Central Terminal was as crowded at noon as it usually is at the height of the evening rush.
Metro-North said its riders encountered delays of only 10 to 15 minutes in the morning, but as switches began to freeze in the afternoon the delays increased and the railroad cut its service from 10 to 15 trains an hour to only 4 an hour.
Kennedy and Newark International Airports were closed all day and hundreds of flights were canceled. Kennedy was expected to remain closed at least through 2 P.M. today, with more than 1,000 flights diverted to Montreal, Toronto and Bangor, Me.
La Guardia Airport remained open, but had only a few flights in the storm. In the afternoon, with snow swirling over the runways, the corridors at La Guardia were eerily quiet; neon lights glowed in empty cocktail lounges.
The city's full complement of 1,300 plows were out long before dawn, Sanitation Department crews were working 13-hour shifts and the major arteries were kept open during the day.
Buses across the region ran slow and late. New Jersey Transit buses in northern New Jersey were 90 minutes behind schedule in northern parts of the state, and in southern New Jersey were delayed but as much as three hours.
Suburban Chaos On Long Island, most schools and thousands of businesses closed, and Nassau and Suffolk County officials declared emergencies to keep residents off roads so plows could operate. While many seemed to heed the warnings, traffic was still heavy on many roads; it was often at a standstill for miles on the Long Island Expressway.
In New Jersey, officials closed 378 schools and school districts -- virtually the whole state's public school system. Bergen County declared a state of emergency and officials asked residents to stay off the roads unless travel was absbolutely necessary.
In Connecticut, where blowing snow cut visibility almost to zero, schools were closed and many businesses were shut down, including major malls in Stamford, Trumbull, Milford and Waterford, as the storm dropped more than 10 inches of snow in some coastal areas, atop 10 inches of snow that had fallen earlier in the week.
"It seems like Mother Nature is really testing us," said Mike Turano, an operations superintendent at the Connecticut state storm control center, an oddly named agency that seeks to coordinate responses to storms.
