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 At least two deaths were blamed on the weather, which made roads
treacherous. Near Emmitsburg, Maryland, a driver lost control and
slammed into a tractor-trailer, state police reported. In
Versailles, Kentucky, a woman's car hit a tree after skidding on an
icy highway, local police said.
"It's brutal out here," said Ian Chapin, 28, an appliance repairman
braving stiff winds as he pumped fuel into his work vehicle at a gas
station outside Philadelphia.
The deep chill and heavy snow on Wednesday closed schools in
Philadelphia and many suburbs throughout New Jersey, Rhode Island
and other states.
New York City pushed toward normalcy, opening its schools, but the
snowstorm that dropped 11 inches of powder in Central Park touched
off some complaints about unequal treatment by new Mayor Bill de
Blasio.
In the toniest part of the city, Manhattan's Upper East Side, some
residents claimed that their unplowed streets were being ignored as
part of the mayor's oft-repeated campaign theme to address issues of
inequality.
De Blasio conceded in a statement that, after visiting the
neighborhood and talking to residents, "more could have been done to
serve the Upper East Side."
He said he ordered city sanitation workers to "double-down" on
cleanup efforts on the area.
"Our crews will remain on the streets around the clock until the
roadways are clear in every neighborhood, in every borough, across
New York City," he said.
Storms have famously complicated the lives of New York mayors. In
1969, a huge storm created a political crisis for Mayor John
Lindsay, who was faulted for the city's slow response. In 2010,
Mayor Michael Bloomberg came under fire for his handling of a
blizzard that halted some subway service for days.
But the snow blanketing the city's icy Times Square failed to deter
tourists such as Pablo Magnelli of Buenos Aires, who was traveling
with his family.
"We are freezing. But, still, it's a very nice city," Magnelli said.
"It was a dream to come here, so we will go out today to the sights — Times Square, the Brooklyn Bridge. We want to see the city."
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The single-digit temperatures gripping huge swaths of the nation
will prove relentless, according to Accuweather.com Senior
Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski.
"A total of three waves of Arctic air will blast across the Midwest
and Northeast into next week," he said.
Temperatures are likely to stay below freezing in such cities as
Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit and Cleveland through the
end of the month, with highs most days only in the teens, he said.
"In Boston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, New York City and
Indianapolis, temperatures may only surpass the freezing mark on one
or two days through January 31," Sosnowski added.
U.S. airports reported nearly 4,400 flight delays or cancellations
on Wednesday, with New York's LaGuardia Airport and Newark Liberty
International the hardest-hit, according to FlightAware.com.
Commuters shivered while waiting for delayed trains into New York
City.
"It was cranky and crowded," said Linda Beck, 37, of South Orange,
New Jersey, a producer for Nickelodeon stuck on a train for an hour
and a half. "Even the conductors were gripey. They couldn't move
from train to train it was so crowded."
The heaviest snowfall was recorded in the Boston suburb of Norwell,
Massachusetts, with 18.3 inches and Manalapan, New Jersey, near the
Atlantic coast, which measured 15.8 inches, according to the
National Weather Service.
(Additional reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst, Marina Lopes and Zach Cook
in New York, Dave Warner in Philadelphia, Ian Simpson in Washington,
Daniel Lovering in Cambridge, Mass., Alice Popovici in Maryland, Tim
Ghianni in Nashville; editing by Scott Malone, Nick Zieminski and
Gunna Dickson)
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