Winter storm brushes Northeast

ALBANY, N.Y. – A storm system slid across the Northeast with snow, sleet and freezing rain Sunday, glazing roads and tying up air travel after blacking out thousands of customers in the Midwest.

At least 10 traffic deaths have been blamed on weather-related accidents.

Winter storm warnings were in effect into today in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, and into Tuesday in parts of New York state. On the other side of the weather system, warnings were issued for parts of Michigan, where freezing rain and sleet was predicted to turn to snow late Sunday.

The National Weather Service said a foot of snow was possible in the mountains of northern New England, with the potential for 20 inches in northern Maine. In higher elevations of upstate New York, 13 inches of snow was possible. Lake-effect snow and high winds were forecast for parts of Michigan and western New York.

“It’s kind of a mess – probably the best way to term it in one word,” meteorologist Bob Kilpatrick said in Albany.

Hundreds of flights into the New York City area’s three main airports – Kennedy, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia – were delayed as long as two hours Sunday because of wind and ice.

Minnesota’s Grand Marais, on Lake Superior’s North Shore, got 20 inches of snow, and the port city of Duluth marked a Dec. 1 record of 10.3 inches, the Weather Service said.

One member of the Purdue University ice hockey team was killed Saturday when a team van overturned on a slippery Indiana highway, school officials said. Seven others were injured.

Elsewhere, the weather was blamed for three deaths in Wisconsin, three in Michigan, and one each in North Dakota, Illinois and Colorado.