Transportation in the Northeast was hard-hit today by a rare October snowstorm that also cut power to more than 2 million homes and killed at least three people.
The heaviest snow was recorded in Western Massachusetts, where 27.8 inches was measured in Plainfield, according to the National Weather Service. Just 45 minutes northwest of New York City, in West Milford, New Jersey, 19 inches of snow fell.
"A historic October storm is still crushing New England with heavy snow and howling winds," meteorologist Meghan Evans said on Accuweather.com on Sunday.
The storm was expected to push out of Maine on Sunday but not before dumping up to a foot of snow on northern New England states, particularly southern Vermont, the NWS said.
The heavy, wet snow snapped enormous trees like twigs, downing power lines from West Virginia to Massachusetts.
New Jersey Transit and Metro-North Railroad suspended service on several lines into New York City on Saturday and continued the suspension today.
Many flights at New York City-area airports were canceled. Authorities warned drivers to stay off icy roads. Slippery road conditions were blamed for a crash that killed a motorist in Colchester, Connecticut.
In Temple, Pennsylvania, an 84-year-old man was killed when a snow-caked tree fell through his home, said a Muhlenberg Township Police Department dispatcher.
In Springfield, Massachusetts, a 20-year-old man was electrocuted when he stepped out of his vehicle and touched an electrified guard rail, a Springfield police spokesman said.
New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts declared weather emergencies because of the storm.
Snow fell yesterday, some at record amounts, across most of Pennsylvania well into Massachusetts after blanketing parts of Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.
The unseasonably early storm broke a snow record that had stood since 1969 for New York's Central Park, which received 2.9 inches of snow, the National Weather Service said.
Widespread power outages caused by snow, ice and falling trees were reported from the Mid-Atlantic into New England, leaving some 2 million customers without power.
The power outages included 606,388 customers reported by Connecticut Light and Power; 214,000 by PPL Electric Utilities in Pennsylvania; 341,000 without power from PSE&G in New Jersey; more than 300,000 by First Energy in Pennsylvania and New Jersey; more than 77,000 by Con Edison in New York and more than 66,000 by Allegheny Power in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
Another 205,890 customers of National Grid in Massachusetts and New York were without power and 17,467 customers reported by The United Illuminating Company in Connecticut.
Reuters