Snow, sleet, ice spread up East Coast, cars slide

(01-18) 17:13 PST Montpelier, Vt. (AP) --

An East Coast storm bringing sleet and freezing rain spread into northern New England on Tuesday, sending cars skidding off roads, knocking out power and making ski area managers cross their fingers that snow wouldn't turn to ice at higher elevations.

The storm, which iced over roads all the way down to Delaware and delayed flights for tens of thousands of weather-weary travelers, was expected to drop up to 10 inches of snow before moving out early Wednesday.

Up to 6 inches of snow fell across much of New Hampshire before turning to freezing rain late Tuesday afternoon, just in time for the evening commute.

In Maine, the storm brought a mix of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain. Inland areas could see up to 8 inches of snow before the storm ends, National Weather Service meteorologist Steve Capriola said.

The prospect of rain sent crews in some municipalities rushing to clear snow and ice from storm drains to avoid street flooding followed by freezing.

Ski areas prayed the snow would only add to a strong base on the mountains that's allowing for the opening of tree skiing.

"It's really coming around," Killington resort spokesman Tom Horrocks said of the season.

Residents in northern Maine were eager to get the snow to open more cross-country skiing and snowmobile trails.

Utilities were braced for ice: A spokesman for Unitil said the company had 60 crews ready to respond to any downed power lines in New Hampshire and had made arrangements for 50 more backup crews if necessary.

By early evening, the state's largest utility, Public Service Company of New Hampshire, was reporting only about 50 customers without power, all in Bedford.

The slick roads sent cars sliding across the region.

The storm came less than a week after 2 feet of snow fell in parts of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and elsewhere along the East Coast.

"This seems a little more like a New York winter," said David Cairns, trying to keep his dress shoes from getting wet while crossing the street in White Plains, N.Y. "Ice and slush and cold rain. It beats a blizzard."

Tuesday's icy blast also closed hundreds of schools and delayed or canceled flights throughout the region.

More than 400 flights were canceled at New York's three main airports, most of them at Newark (N.J.) Liberty International, where Continental Airlines halted flights because of freezing rain and snow. New York's LaGuardia Airport reported hour-and-a-half delays on arriving flights in the late morning.

Boston's Logan International kept its runways clear and open, but outgoing flights to several other cities affected by the storm were delayed.

Commuter rail lines in the northern suburbs of New York and in the Philadelphia area reported delays, and public works crews were dispatched throughout the region to clear debris from storm drains so melting snow wouldn't pool and cause flooding.

Patricia Ricciardi used a tissue to wipe sludge off the cuffs of her slacks in a south Philadelphia subway station as she headed downtown to work at her city job.

"I don't want to go to work looking like I came from a garage instead," she said. "It's disgusting."

Tomoko Takushi, a graphic designer in Philadelphia, described her walk to work on the ice-glazed sidewalks as "terrifying."

New York City streets and sidewalks were a slushy mess Tuesday, with pedestrians forced to cross large watery accumulations at street corners, and icy stretches of sidewalks were like Slip n' Slides. Cars threw gobs of slush onto anyone standing too close to the street.

Connecticut State Police Lt. J. Paul Vance said troopers were flooded with more than 700 calls for help during the morning rush hour and had to deal with more than 70 collisions.

"The problem with every crash is that we had difficulty getting equipment to the crash site due to the volume of traffic and the slippery conditions," Vance said.

Police in central Massachusetts were investigating whether the storm played a part in a crash that killed two Rhode Island men near a tiny town named Douglas. The snow had just started to fall when the men's car hit a tractor-trailer, police said.

The eastern half of New York was expected to get up to 8 inches of snow, along with freezing rain and sleet. Coastal New Hampshire was bracing for power outages as ice was expected to build up on power lines later Tuesday.

New Hampshire could get up to 10 inches of heavy snow, the National Weather Service said. The most serious hours of the storm were expected to hit there late Tuesday and into Wednesday.

After a Christmas weekend blizzard dumped 20 inches of snow on New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was criticized for the slow cleanup. Up to 12 inches of snow blanketed the area again last week, but the city was prepared and the streets were quickly plowed.

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Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Ula Ilnytzky in New York City; Pat Eaton-Robb in Columbia, Conn.; Erin Vanderberg and Jeff McMillan in Philadelphia; Jim Fitzgerald in White Plains; Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H.; and David Sharp in Portland, Maine.