A quick-hitting winter storm moved through the Northeast on Friday morning, snarling the morning commute for millions of Americans from New York to New England.
Snow also fell at the rate of 1 inch per hour at New York's JFK Airport, where 50 flights had been canceled by the afternoon. New York’s LaGuardia airport saw more than 300 flights canceled by 1 p.m. Friday, while airports and Boston and New Jersey were also facing extra delays and cancellations, according to FlightAware.com.
The heavy, wet snow also knocked out power for more than 54,000 customers in Connecticut, according to NBC Connecticut. Hundreds of schools in the state closed Friday, and state police said they have responded to 258 crashes, the station reported. Some areas of the state had accumulations up to 9 inches, according to the National Weather Service.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Molloy said the state's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) would be monitoring the impact of the storm.
Parts of eastern Long Island, including the Hamptons and Montauk could get between 6 to 8 inches of snow by Friday evening, according the National Weather Service, which extended a winter storm warning for the island until 3 p.m.
New York City only saw about 3 inches of snow, according to the National Weather Service, but the storm did not come at a convenient time as people were trudging and taking mass transit to work. Winds of 37 mph accompanied the system in Manhattan, where it’s unclear if a crane crash that left one person dead could be blamed on weather.
The snow should finally clear coastal New England by Friday night, but not before dumping snow on southeast New England, including parts of eastern Connecticut, Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts including much of the I-395 and I-495 corridors, the Weather Channel said.
