Fresh Snow Piling Up; Bigger Storm On The Way

More snow Wednesday and another big storm in the forecast this weekend gave people still struggling with the Blizzard of ‘96 that oh-no-not-again feeling.

A new storm dumped up to 8 inches of snow in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania and a powerful third storm forming over the Plains was expected to bring at least a foot of snow to parts of the East by Friday.

“Oh lordy, that worries me,” said Tom Bailey, acting director of the Southern Highland Handicraft Guild, which operates the Folk Art Center in Asheville, N.C.

The fresh snow came after a blizzard that dumped 1-1/2 to 3 feet of snow across the Northeast and shut down most schools and businesses on Monday and Tuesday. At least 100 deaths were blamed on the storm.

Federal employees in Washington stayed home a third day after three weeks of a shutdown caused by stalled budget talks. Officials had hoped to reopen, but local governments were unable to clear roads.

In Boston, weary crews began running out of places to pile the mounting snow. With up to 6 inches of new snow in parts of Massachusetts, Boston’s Logan Airport had to close again temporarily so crews could plow the runways.

As forecasters warned of a bigger storm headed toward the region by the weekend, emergency officials in Boston worried about snow removal crews reaching their limits.

“Those heavy vehicles need some maintenance, and the crews need down time. The drivers have been going 15, 18 hours a day,” said Jerry Meister, operations director for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.

In the Washington suburb of Fairfax, Va., a Hechinger’s hardware store got 500 snow shovels delivered Wednesday and sold all of them in an hour, a saleswoman said.

In western Virginia, rangers rescued seven campers, six from a snowbound cabin, who had been stranded after 3 feet of snow fell on Shenandoah National Park over the weekend. All were in good condition.

“I wasn’t worried,” said Bryant Etheridge, 20, who spent five days in a lean-to, rationing his supply of granola bars and peanut butter crackers and boiling canned soups on his compact stove. “I could have made it to the end of the week.”

In Philadelphia, the 30.7 inches of snow that fell early in the week set a new all-time record for the greatest snowfall from a single storm. People complained that neighbors digging out were only rearranging the snow, dumping it from their doorsteps into the street.

“It’s bad,” said Khary Selden, 19, who lives in South Philadelphia. “It’s about calf-deep there.”

For the fourth straight day, officials canceled school in Philadelphia. In northern Virginia, several districts announced they will be closed all week.