Winter storm that pounded Midwest brings only light snow to Northeast

BALTIMORE -- The storm that pounded the Midwest over the weekend brought relatively light snow to the Northeast on Monday, delaying some commuters but sparing the region a repeat of the Valentine's Day ice storm that brought airline flights to a standstill.

Forecasters had feared the snowflakes could melt in the air, then refreeze into sleet closer to the ground. Instead, the weather was just cold enough that the wet, heavy flakes never melted, and they piled up quickly.

"We dodged a bullet, actually, with the temperature staying just above freezing," said Sandra Dobson, a spokeswoman for the Maryland State Highway Administration.

Maryland received three to six inches. The New York City area and Connecticut got up to 4 inches, a fraction of the amount that fell in the Midwest during the weekend.

JetBlue, which canceled more than 1,000 flights in the wake of the Valentine's Day storm, called off at least 68 flights Monday into or out of Columbus, Ohio; Richmond, Va.; Portland, Maine; and Washington and Chicago.

During the Valentine's Day storm, JetBlue was heavily criticized because passengers were stranded on planes at Kennedy Airport for up to 10 1/2 hours.

But this time JetBlue was not alone. Delta Air Lines Inc. reported 175 canceled flights Monday throughout the Northeast. American Airlines canceled 20 flights in and out of JFK.

About 100 flights were also canceled at the Newark airport. The Baltimore-Washington area's three major airports were open but some airline schedules were disrupted.

The Midwest took the brunt of the storm, with more than 2 feet of snow falling in southeastern Minnesota. Winter storm warnings remained in effect Monday for northern Wisconsin and Michigan. The National Weather Service said an additional foot of snow was possible in northern Michigan.

Heavy ice brought down miles of power lines and utility poles, mostly in Iowa, blacking out hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.

Nine traffic deaths were blamed on the huge storm system: eight in Wisconsin and one in Kansas. Major highways in parts of Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska were blocked for much of the weekend, and tornadoes destroyed homes in the South.