Highways and sidewalks turned treacherous Saturday for themillions of people living in the Northeast as the region's first bigstorm of the season piled up a foot of blowing snow, groundingairline flights and postponing SAT college exams and football games.
At least eight deaths were blamed on the storm.
Snow fell at a rate of about an inch an hour at Binghamton, N.Y.,and the National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for partsof Maine, Connecticut, southeastern New York and New Jersey. Stiffwind blew the snow sideways in places.
Meteorologists warned that as much as 2 feet of snow was possibleby today in parts of Massachusetts and Vermont. Northern New Jerseyhad up to 13 inches of snow by late Saturday afternoon, and a footwas measured in parts of western Maryland, Connecticut and the NewYork City area.
'What we're seeing now is the tip of the iceberg,' meteorologistRoger Hill of Worcester, Vt., said Saturday morning. 'The beast isgoing to be here shortly.'
In Swampscott, Mass., Phil MacLaughlin said it wasn't easy walkinghis Chihuahua, El Jefe. He won't go in the snow because he'd be snoutdeep, MacLaughlin said.
The first wave of snow struck Friday, and by Saturday highwayswere coated with layers of snow and slush.
'The roads out there are really, really bad, very slippery,' saidKory Kiser, 25, of North Windham, Conn., who was at work as acontract cable TV installer in spite of the storm.
Community and church groups canceled activities Saturday fromPennsylvania into Maine, and many school districts postponed SATcollege entrance tests. Race horses stayed in their stables, somecolleges called off football games and high school footballchampionships were postponed in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts andConnecticut.
The bad roads took a bite out of pre-Christmas shopping.
'People are still making it out, although not in what we wouldexpect,' said Pat Jordan, a sales auditor at the Costco Wholesale inUnion, N.J.
Police urged people to just stay home.
'There will be other weekends to Christmas shop -- this isn't theone,' said Rhode Island State Police Sgt. Scott Hemingway.
Not all shoppers heeded the advice. Many jammed supermarkets tostock up on groceries. And Jeff Campbell, 36, of Hamden, Conn.,braved the roads to buy his 15-month-old daughter a sled.
'It's worth it,' Campbell said. 'This is the first time she willremember being in the snow.'
A Manhattan tribute to singer Lena Horne was postponed, and BruceSpringsteen's Saturday night Christmas concert at Asbury Park, N.J.,the seaside resort where he rose to fame, was called off untilMonday.
Friday's Springsteen show went on as scheduled, but there were afew empty seats. 'I don't know how you got here, but I'm glad youdid,' he told the hundreds of fans who did show up.
In New York City, Broadway shows went on as scheduled.
Air travel was a mess.
Hundreds of flights were canceled at the New York metropolitanarea's La Guardia, Kennedy and Newark airports, the Port Authority ofNew York and New Jersey reported. Of the more than 800 landings anddepartures scheduled Saturday at Boston's Logan airport, 325 werecanceled by midday, said spokesman Phil Orlandella.
Hundreds of travelers had spent the night camped out at LaGuardia.
Sherry Long was scheduled to leave at 11 a.m. Friday to fly hometo Miami, but by Saturday afternoon, she was still at the airport.She was booked on another flight, but said: 'There's no guarantee.'
The storm was blamed for at least eight traffic deaths, one inPennsylvania, one in Connecticut, and two each in New Jersey, Vermontand Virginia.
------
AP Writers Noreen Gillespie, Laura Walsh and Pat Eaton-Robb inConnecticut; Krista Larson in New Jersey; Fred Lief in AP Sports;Candace Smith in Washington; Verena Dobnik in New York; Foster Klugin Maryland; Ed Golden in Massachusetts, and Lisa Rathke in Vermontcontributed to this report.
------
On the Net:
National Weather Service: www.nws.noaa.gov/
