20-Inch Snowfall in Northeast Closes Roads, Schools, Airports

Much of the Northeast was socked by wintry weather today as up to 20 inches of snow snarled traffic, forced more than 100 schools in New York and New England to cancel or delay classes and shut down Boston’s airport for about seven hours.

The latest brush with an early winter has been blamed for six deaths, all stemming from traffic accidents on icy roads. The heavy snow and strong gusty winds made travel hazardous.

“The roads are extremely slippery,” said a dispatcher for the Montgomery County sheriff’s department in New York, who cautioned commuters to “take it easy.”

Snow removal crews were out in force across much of the Northeast, salting and plowing roadways.

The fast-moving storm that dumped 15 inches of snow in Wyoming and nine inches in Iowa and northern Illinois on Monday and Tuesday gained in strength as it roared into the Northeast before heading off the coast.

The heavy snow caused dozens of traffic accidents from Maine and New England across to the lower Great Lakes.

Boston’s Logan International Airport and Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn., were forced to shut down for about seven hours but reopened when the snowfall stopped and runways were cleared.

The snow also made for a holiday for thousands of students.

At least 100 schools in eastern New York were closed or delayed opening because of the snow, while about a dozen Rhode Island school districts canceled classes for the day. Many schools in Massachusetts also were shut down, including those in Boston.