Snow Snarls Northeast Traffic; Midwest Wind-Chill 70 Below

A winter storm spread snow from North Carolina to New England today, prompting a snow emergency in the nation’s capital and temporarily closing Boston’s airport while a blast of polar air created wind-chill temperatures of 70 below in the Midwest.

Logan International Airport in Boston was shut down at 5:31 a.m. EST, as five inches of snow blocked runways, airport officials said. The airport was reopened at 8:05 a.m. after crews cleared the runways but flight delays were continuing.

The wet, heavy snow snarled morning rush-hour traffic in New York City and Boston as commuters returned to work after the long holiday weekend. The storm dumped from three to six inches of snow on the New York area with Long Island getting the worst of it.

Schools closed because of slippery roads today in parts of Rhode Island, New Hampshire, New York’s Long Island, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina and Oregon.

Jackson, Haig Cancel Out

On the presidential campaign trail in New Hampshire, Democrat Jesse Jackson canceled a walking tour in Nashua and a speech at Nashua High School, which closed, and Republican Alexander M. Haig Jr.skipped a stop in Exeter.

Philadelphia International Airport was forced to close one runway and airlines were reporting some delays.

From two to four inches of snow were forecast for Washington, D.C., but only about one inch had fallen by daybreak.

A snow emergency was declared in the District of Columbia and in Washington’s Maryland suburbs, where about 140 sand trucks took to the streets, said Donna Eldridge, a spokeswoman for the Maryland Highway Administration. Washington city officials canceled the snow emergency as of 10 a.m.

Federal agencies were open but a government spokesman said reasonable tardiness would be excused.

The same band of winter storms dumped freezing rain on the Carolinas, causing power outages and numerous minor traffic accidents.

Officials of Duke Power and Carolina Power & Light said 44,000 to 50,000 customers in South Carolina and North Carolina still were without power this morning.

Meanwhile, a wave of arctic air pushed out of Canada and extended from the Plains to the Great Lakes, dropping temperatures to well below zero across North Dakota, Montana and Minnesota. Temperatures of 15 to 18 below zero combined with gusty winds early today to create wind chills of 76 below zero at Minot, N.D.

A fast-moving Pacific storm coated Oregon roads with ice and caused heavy snow in the mountains of California and Nevada. Major traffic delays occurred on westbound roads across the Sierra Nevada as thousands of Californians tried to make it back home after New Year’s weekend vacations in the Reno and Tahoe areas of Nevada.

California Highway Patrol dispatcher Gina Moran said a 25-mile backup occurred Sunday on Interstate 80 because vacationers “are trying to get back over the pass today, but they’re not equipped to drive in the snow. All I can say is they’re making a big mistake.”