“It looks beautiful outside -- as long as you don’t have to do anything,” she said.

There were 412,000 power outages reported in Massachusetts, about two-thirds of all of the power problems reported to the federal Department of Energy. In Rhode Island, one of five states to declare an emergency, 185,000 customers were without power.

In all, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut and New York declared states of emergency.

New York City was spared the worst of the storm. A total of 11.4 inches fell in Central Park, and other parts of the city had smaller amounts. Road crews were out from Friday afternoon through Saturday morning plowing roads, Bloomberg told reporters.

Areas north and east of New York City weren't so lucky. In Long Island's Suffolk County, officials called out the National Guard to help dozens of people whose cars became stuck in snow drifts as they tried to get home Friday night after the snow began falling. Motorists were taken to nearby shelters to ride out the storm, and no casualties were reported.

Near a large shopping mall in Smithtown on Long Island, about 40 miles east of New York City, firefighters helped people from cars that got stuck in snow overnight after drivers hit hours-long traffic backups as they left work early.  Motorists had either been unable to open doors that were frozen shut or concerned about leaving their vehicles during the snowfall. Firefighters pried open the doors and walked them back to emergency vehicles, where they were warmed up and taken to warming stations.

One elderly woman said she became stuck while driving home from work on Friday afternoon. She was accompanied by a younger man who had been stranded in the vehicle with her.

“The cars in front of us were getting stuck in the intersections. So the snow just started accumulating and that was it. Here we are 10 hours, 12 hours later,” he told the local ABC affiliate, which happened upon the scene. Both the man and woman said they were fine. They did not give their names.

Accumulations on Long Island ranged from a few inches to more than 30 inches, and the far eastern end of the Island continued to see some snow early Saturday. At the height of the storm, 35,000 customers on Long Island were without power; by Saturday, 10,000 remained without power.

Two deaths in New York state were attributed to the snow. A man was hit by a car in Poughkeepsie, north of New York City, by a driver who lost control in the snow. In upstate New York, state police said a man died when his snow-plowing tractor went over the edge of a roadway.

“This state had consequences, but nothing like our neighboring states,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday, adding that New York would be sending plows and personnel to Connecticut and Massachusetts to help their recovery.”They were hit much harder,” he said.

New York Mayor Bloomberg, at a briefing Saturday, said all the city's main roads and highways were clear, and subway and bus service were nearly normal.

The third death was reported in Connecticut. Gov. Malloy said an 81-year-old woman who was using a snow blower was hit by a car that did not stop.

Malloy said there had been about 1,600 calls to state police in the last 24 hours for help, including some for hypothermia after motorists were trapped in their cars by the snow. More than 400 National Guard troops were deployed statewide, and more were on the way to help with the digging-out, which Malloy noted won’t be quick.

“This will not all be done today,” he said.

Alana.Semuels@latimes.com

Tina.Susman@latimes.com

Michael. Muskal@latimes.com

Semuels reported from Boston, Susman from New York and Muskal from Los Angeles.