East Coast residents clobbered by the weekend blizzard trudged into the workweek Monday amid slippery roads, spotty transit service and mounds of snow that buried cars and blocked sidewalks after some cities got an entire winter’s snow in two days.
In Brooklyn, only one teacher at the Bedford-Stuyvesant New Beginnings Charter School called out, despite more than 2 feet of snow across New York City.
“A lot of teachers are taking the train instead of driving,” said Wanda Morales, director of operations at the school, standing outside while maintenance workers spread salt and parents dropped off their children.
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NYPD cars covered in snow are seen in New York. Millions of people in the eastern United States started digging out from a huge blizzard that brought New York and Washington to a standstill, but the travel woes were far from over.
(KENA BETANCUR / AFP/Getty Images)
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Workers clear the tracks of snow at the Port Washington branch of the Long Island Railroad in New York N.Y. Service is suspended on the Port Washington branch due to the recent snow storm.
(Kathy Kmonicek / Associated Press)
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People walk near the Washington Monument in Washington.
(OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP/Getty Images)
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A child goes sledding down a hill in Bruce Park in Greenwich, Connecticut.
(TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP/Getty Images)
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General view of Brooklyn Bridge with snowed up docks in New York.
(FRANCOIS XAVIER MARIT / AFP/Getty Images)
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A young girl is sliding on the West Lawn of the US Capitol in Washington. Millions of people in the eastern United States started digging out from a huge blizzard that brought New York and Washington to a standstill.
(OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP/Getty Images)
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Children slide in the snow in Central Park in New York.
(FRANCOIS XAVIER MARIT / AFP/Getty Images)
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Dan Cooperman falls into a deep snowbank in Brooklyn, N.Y., as he was trying to clear his car on Jan. 24.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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John Ruiz, 18, left, and Tyrone Graham, 16, earn money digging cars out of the snow in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, N.Y., on Jan. 24.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Saul Shapiro, center, Jim Keller, right, and Jonathan Marvel, back, enjoy cross-country skiing along the Brooklyn, N.Y., waterfront on Jan. 24.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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As the sun comes out on Jan. 24 after a major snowstorm hit the Northeast, families enjoy sledding at Hillside Dog Park in Brooklyn, N.Y.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Snow covers the Brooklyn, N.Y., waterfront with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background on Jan. 24.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Two women make their way across 6th Avenue in Manhattan.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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A light snow continued to fall in Brooklyn late Saturday.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Pedestrians battle heavy snow and wind on 6th Avenue in Manhattan.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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The snowy scene on Whitney Avenue in New Haven, Conn.
(Stan Godlewski / Hartford Courant)
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A couple walk along the Brooklyn Bridge.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Blizzard conditions make driving difficult on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in Brooklyn.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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A man skis across the Brooklyn Bridge.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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A snowplow clears Lexington Avenue in Manhattan.
(Francois Xavier Marit / AFP/Getty Images)
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New York canceled bus service because of the snowstorm.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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A man crosses a windy snowy street in Manhattan.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )
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A car owner digs out in Brooklyn.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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Snow falls heavily in Manhattan on Saturday morning.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )
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Pedestrians trudge through heavy snow falling on Manhattan.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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New Yorkers don boots, gloves and parkas against the wind and snow.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times )
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A woman and her dog have the streets mostly to themselves in Brooklyn as heavy snow pounds the East Coast.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
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A plow clears a street Friday in Bowling Green, Ky.
(Austin Anthony / Associated Press)
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Workers shovel snow on the Martin Luther King bridge in Roanoke, Va., as snow falls Friday morning.
(Stephanie Klein-Davis / Associated Press)
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Taylor Mushtare scrapes ice and snow from her car in Old Southwest Roanoke, Va.
(Heather Rousseau / Associated Press)
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A woman strolls along Campbell Avenue at First Street with her dog as snow falls Friday morning in Roanoke, Va.
(Stephanie Klein-Davis / Associated Press)
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A customer looks at the heavily depleted bread section of a grocery store, as shoppers prepare for an approaching snowstorm in Alexandria, Va.
(Michael Reynolds / EPA)
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Snow gathers on a swing set in Highland Park in Roanoke, Va.
(Heather Rousseau / Associated Press)
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Donald Summit plows the sidewalk along Williamson Road in Roanoke, Va., as snow falls Friday morning.
(Stephanie Klein-Davis / Associated Press)
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Bashon Mann and his children sled down a hill on Capitol Hill in Washington as snow falls around them. It may have taken an act of Congress, but the children of Washington are finally welcome to go sledding on Capitol Hill.
(J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)
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Cesar Gonzalez builds a snowman in Oxford, Miss.
(Bruce Newman / Associated Press)
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Barbara Davis walks her dog Haddix in Bowling Green, Ky. Snow and drizzle began falling early Wednesday across much of Kentucky and Tennessee, leading school districts and some universities to cancel classes and officials to warn motorists to drive carefully.
(Miranda Pederson / Associated Press)
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Shoveled snow is piled in the plaza east of the Capitol in Washington.
(Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)
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Secret Service officers and pedestrians in front of the White House on Pennsylvania Avenue after a light snow storm.
(Brendan Smialowski / AFP/Getty Images)
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Tara Jakeway with Chasing News makes an angel in the man-made snow in New York’s Central Park during Winter Jam NYC’s Ultimate Snow Day, a free festival for people to learn to ski, snowboard and sled.
(Timothy A. Clary / AFP/Getty Images)
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Beth Bryant takes part in a parents-vs.-kids snowball fight at Bowling Green Junior High School in Kentucky.
(Austin Anthony / Associated Press)
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In Bismarck, N.D., the Pioneer Family monument on the mall of the state Capitol is covered in frost.
(Tom Stromme / Associated Press)
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A city worker blows snow from a sidewalk in Knoxville, Tenn.
(Amy Smotherman Burgess / Associated Press)
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A snow plow works on clearing the Volunteer Parkway as snow falls in Bristol, Tenn.
(Earl Neikirk / Associated Press)
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A bicyclist has his hands full as he pedals through the snow in Bristol, Va.
(Andre Teague / Associated Press)
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Nick Morgan shovels sidewalks of Indiana Woods Apartment complex in Evansville, Ind.
(Erin McCracken / Associated Press)
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Work continues at the Howell Railroad Yard in Evansville, Ind., with a fresh blanket of snow on the ground. Another round of snow is forecast for Thursday.
(Denny Simmons / Associated Press)
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Atley Osborne and her sled part ways as she slides down Reitz High School’s practice field hill in Evansville, Ind.
(Denny Simmons / Associated Press)
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A woman braves snowy conditions in Washington.
(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP/Getty Images)
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A man clears a sidewalk in Washington.
(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP/Getty Images)
In Arlington, Va., just across the Potomac River from Washington, there were signs of normalcy; shops were open, and main roadways were mostly cleared, dotted with large piles of snow. Matthew Mason, 29, was riding the train into Washington to go to his job at a hotel. The part-time law student said he figured he should be there, though things would likely be a little slower.
“I’ve sat in my house too much already,” he said.
Dave Lenowitz was perched on a snowbank in Philadelphia near what’s normally the stop for the bus that takes him to his job as the director of a nonprofit.
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“Normally I bicycle, but it’s a little too slippery,” he said. “There’s not enough snow, otherwise I’d ski. It’s only seven miles.”
For others, the weekend extended into Monday because of closed schools and government offices. The storm dropped snow from the Gulf Coast to New England, with near-record snowfalls tallied from Washington, D.C., to New York City. At least 31 people died as a result of the storm; the deaths occurred in car accidents, from carbon monoxide poisoning and from heart attacks while shoveling.
Flying remained particularly messy after airlines canceled nearly 12,000 weekend flights and hundreds more Monday. Airports resumed limited service in New York City, Baltimore and Philadelphia. In the Washington area, Reagan National Airport saw its first flights Monday, and Dulles International Airport expected to resume flights late in the day. But delays reverberated around the country.
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U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin was on a rescheduled pre-dawn flight from Springfield, Ill., to Chicago while on the way to Washington on Monday morning. The Illinois Democrat said he’s been through this before.
“Most of us who spend part of our lives in Washington know to expect the worst when it comes to snow,” he said. “I knew the forecast was enough to cause a problem.”
Tom Aloi, who works in construction management, was at Chicago O’Hare trying to get back to New York City after a business trip to Germany. His rescheduled fight to Newark Liberty was already delayed several hours.
“Yes, we are frustrated. We are aggravated,” Aloi said. “It’s a ripple effect. It affects the whole world.”
In New York, Bret Mattingly, 23, was on his way to LaGuardia as classes were starting at Butler University, where he studies computer science. He came to the city to visit a friend on Friday.
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“I was supposed to fly out yesterday but the flight was canceled,” he said. “I missed school.”
Amtrak operated a reduced number of trains, spokesman Marc Magliari said. But bus and rail service was expected to be limited around the region into Monday.
The snow began Friday, and the last flakes fell just before midnight Saturday. In its aftermath, crews raced all day Sunday to clear streets and sidewalks devoid of their usual bustle.
Sunday’s brilliant sunshine and gently rising temperatures that had snow and ice falling off skyscrapers in New York City as melting began, provided a respite from the blizzard that dropped a record 29.2 inches on Baltimore. It was just right for a huge snowball fight there, where more than 600 people responded to organizer Aaron Brazell’s invite on Facebook.
But one day of sun wasn’t enough to clear many roads. Cars parked in neighborhoods around the region were encased in snow, some of it pushed from the streets by plows.
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New York Mayor Bill de Blasio encouraged people to leave their plowed-in cars all week. Some didn’t have a choice.
“I cleaned this two or three times and they keep blocking me in,” Peter Quamina, 51, said as he shoveled out the front of his driveway in Brooklyn. “This storm was bad as we get.”
Federal offices were closed Monday, and Virginia’s state workers were told to stay home. Schools from Washington to the Jersey Shore gave students Monday off; In the D.C. suburbs, classes also were canceled for Tuesday. Schools were open in New York City.
New York’s transit authority said partial service on the Long Island Rail Road was restored on three of its 12 branches and diesel train service was operating on three other branches. New York City subways, buses and Metro-North Railroad service were operating on a normal schedule. The Metro in Washington was offering free rides on limited rail and bus service.
Broadway reopened after going dark at the last minute during the snowstorm, but museums remained closed in Washington, and the House of Representatives postponed votes until February, citing the storm’s impact on travel.
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Overall snowfall of 26.8 inches in Central Park made it New York’s second biggest winter storm since records began in 1869, and Saturday’s 26.6 inches made for a single-day record in the city.
Washington’s records were less clear. The official three-day total of 17.8 inches measured at Reagan National Airport was impossibly short of accumulations recorded elsewhere in the city. An official total of 22.4 inches landed at the National Zoo, for example.
The zoo remained closed through Monday but a video of its giant panda Tian Tian making snow angels got about 54 million views.