From battered California to New England, snow bookends US

By AMY TAXIN and MARK PRATT
Associated Press

Beleaguered Californians got hit again Tuesday as a new winter storm moved into the already drenched and snow-plastered state, with blizzard warnings blanketing the Sierra Nevada and forecasters warning residents that any travel was dangerous.

Bookending the country, a winter storm in the Northeast closed or delayed the opening for hundreds of schools as the most significant snowfall of what has been a mild winter hit overnight.

And Michigan again fought a battle with ice after a new storm that hit Monday left thousands of customers without power in the central part of the state. To the southeast, around Detroit, some customers still lacked power for a sixth day after a previous ice storm.

A look at weather threats around the country:

CALIFORNIA MOUNTAINS BOMBARDED

Several feet of new snow was expected at higher elevations in California. On the eastern flank of the Sierra, the Mono County Sheriff’s Office bluntly tweeted late Monday: “The roads are closed. All of them. There is no alternate route, back way, or secret route. It’s a blizzard, people.”

Winter storm warnings were posted in many of Southern California’s snow-laden mountains, where the new front was expected to last into Wednesday. Winter storm warnings also spanned the length of the Oregon coast.

California is still digging out from a series of almost nonstop storms. San Bernardino County, east of Los Angeles, declared a state of emergency after many mountain residents were trapped in their homes over the weekend and hundreds of motorists were stranded.

In the San Bernardino Mountains, Michael Johnstone, 44, said his family’s grocery store was running low on key inventory even though they stocked up before the storm. The sheriff’s office is escorting two full grocery trucks up to the mountain community, Johnstone said — just in time for the new storm to add as much as a foot of snow.

“We’re completely out of bread. Milk is getting really light. We’re almost completely out of produce,” said Johnstone, of Goodwin and Sons Market in Crestline. “Beer — domestic beer — is really, really low.”

With 5 feet of snow on the ground Johnstone said, many of the store’s employees can’t make it to work, so he has been using a plow truck to shuttle them to and from work for limited hours. Most customers are coming in on foot.

NORTHEAST FINALLY GETS SNOW

As much as 7 or 8 inches (18 to 20 centimeters) of snow blanketed some communities in the Northeast by Tuesday morning.

“We’ve had no winter until now,” said Harry Craven, the owner of Highland True Value Hardware and Bike Shop in Holyoke, Massachusetts. “But we’ve had people coming in the last couple days for ice melt and shovels, some people this morning looking for parts to do repairs on snowblowers. By our standards this hasn’t been a blockbuster storm, but I’m happy with it.”

Nationwide, there were about 500 commercial flight cancellations and more than 1,400 delays by midday, according to FlightAware.com.

A winter storm warning covered parts of the Northeast, including Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Rhode Island, with heavy snow forecast through Tuesday afternoon.

The snow complicated the morning commute on Boston-area highways and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority reported power losses that affected signals on multiple lines and stations. Even after power was restored, residual delays were expected, the MBTA tweeted.

A crash involving tractor-trailers on Interstate 91 in Connecticut caused minor injuries.

“I strongly encourage everyone in Connecticut to stay off the roads on Tuesday morning unless absolutely necessary,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a statement. Three special elections for the Connecticut House went on as scheduled.

Two to 5 inches of snow fell across New York City, depending on the borough. Parts of Manhattan barely got any, and instead of sticking on heavily trafficked streets and sidewalks, it turned into a mushy mess during the morning commute. In the Bronx and Brooklyn, there was enough snow that residents had to brush off cars and shovel sidewalks.

The Albany, New York, area saw less snow than expected — 2 to 5 inches — but enough to close schools.

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Taxin reported from Orange County, California, and Pratt from Boston. Contributing to this report were Associated Press journalists Dave Collins in Connecticut, Julie Walker in New York City and John Antczak in Los Angeles, along with other AP journalists around the country.