Blizzard pounds Northeast

BOSTON – A blizzard slammed the Northeast on Sunday with more than 2 feet of snow and hurricane-strength wind gusts, halting air travel for thousands of people, keeping others off slippery highways and burying parked cars under deep drifts.

Governors in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island declared states of emergency.

More than 3 feet fell in some places north of Boston; parts of New Hampshire got 2 feet; New York’s Catskills collected at least 20 inches; and 18 inches fell on parts of Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island and the eastern tip of New York’s Long Island.

Two communities in Massachusetts, Salem and Plymouth, tied for the deepest snow with 38 inches each. The weather earlier piled a foot of snow across parts of Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and northern Ohio.

Although the snow ended by Sunday afternoon, temperatures were expected to reach zero in some areas Sunday night, with wind chills dropping as low as minus 15. The wind was fierce across much of the East Coast, with a top wind gust of 152 miles per hour recorded on Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina.

At least 14 deaths were linked to the weather: three in Connecticut, three in Ohio, three in Wisconsin, two in Pennsylvania and one each in Maryland, Iowa and Massachusetts.

Wind gusted to 84 mph on Nantucket, and the island off the southeast coast of Massachusetts was plunged into darkness Sunday as 9,400 utility customers lost power. On the mainland, 18,000 customers lost power. Classes today were called off for many Massachusetts schools.

Boston’s Logan International Airport closed early Sunday. More than 900 flights were canceled Sunday morning at New York’s Newark, Kennedy and LaGuardia airports.