Nor’easter Blankets Northeast in Snow, Ice

A powerful snowstorm barreled through the Northeast on Saturday, burying areas under more than a foot of ice and snow and turning holiday season travel into a perilous ordeal.

The fierce nor’easter arrived so precipitously in the Boston area that meteorologists called it a once-in-50-years event.

“To have something like this in early December -- when you combine the amount of precipitation, the strength of winds and the duration of the event -- that would be once in 50 years,” said Rob Gilman, director of the New England Weather Service.

In much of the Northeast, airline flights were grounded, SAT college exams were canceled and events ranging from a Bruce Springsteen concert to high school athletic events were called off amid blowing snow and forecasts of more to come.

By hitting on a Saturday, the storm caused less havoc than it might have on a weekday. Still, at least eight traffic deaths were blamed on the storm. Hundreds of flights were canceled at La Guardia, Kennedy and Newark airports in the New York area and at Logan airport in Boston.

The wintry blast hit the Washington, D.C., area early Friday, dusting much of the capital, while leaving several inches of powdery snow in the colder pockets of the mid-Atlantic region. But the snowy onslaught gained intensity as it moved north, triggering blizzard warnings and forcing millions to toss out their weekend plans. The storm dumped a foot of snow on New York City.

In eastern Massachusetts, shopping malls were deserted Saturday as residents stayed home. Holiday church fairs that normally draw crowds featured more volunteers than festive consumers. Even a Christmas tree lot that raises funds for charity offered to slice its prices Saturday because so few people were buying.

Supplies of road salt, however, were decimated at local hardware stores and supermarkets. Snow shovels sold out at a number of hardware outlets, where brisk sales also were reported in snow tubes and sledding equipment.

After the coastal town of Hingham awoke Saturday to more than eight inches of snow, exercise instructor Eileen Gay decided to cancel her morning Pilates class.

“We can all go skiing instead,” Gay said.

At the state police headquarters in Framingham, west of Boston, dispatcher Michael Convery said the storm was wreaking havoc on highways. “It’s a weather travesty out there. We’re all messed up,” Convery said. Many motorists were spinning off the snow-covered roads, he said.

The sudden storm also caused a crunch for the homeless. The Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance hastily added 333 beds in shelters around Boston.

Logan International Airport managed to keep one runway open for much of Saturday, but many flights were delayed or canceled.

Gilman said Cape Cod managed to escape the snow but was hit with winds up to 50 mph. He said coastal communities would be hard hit today by winds and tides dumping “salt water in places where you don’t want it.”

In New York City, residents expressed relief that the storm arrived on a weekend.

“Enjoying it,” said a shopper stocking up on cheese and delicatessen meats at Grace’s Market on Manhattan’s East Side. “That’s my plan for the weekend, just to enjoy being trapped in the house.”

Nearby coffee shops and grocery stores were brimming with warmly dressed shoppers even as the streets were empty but for a sprinkling of taxis, buses, snowplows and an occasional exuberant cross-country skier roaring down Fifth Avenue.

Fifteen minutes after opening, a Manhattan housewares store, Gracious Home, was sold out of every variety of sled, from old-fashion wooden ones to popular slippery circular models called the Avalanche.

In the meantime, parents and their children dug snow pants and gloves out of the closet and took to the hills from Long Island to the Bronx.

“We are staying ahead of it,” Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced. He said 1,924 pieces of snow-removal equipment were salting and plowing city streets, keeping them passable.

Times staff writers Geraldine Baum in New York and Jonathan Peterson in Washington and Associated Press contributed to this report.