Voice Of Post

East Coast Storms. The first widespread blizzard of the season slammed the northeastern United States on the heavily traveled Christmas weekend Sunday, canceling more than 1,500 flights, shutting the Amtrak passenger rail and challenging motorists on icy roads.
The Atlantic storm unleashed powerful winds as it moved up the coast, dumping a foot of sideways-blowing snow on some areas with more expected up to the morning commute Monday. Massachusetts and Maine declared states of emergency with only essential workers asked to work in Boston.

New York area airports including JFK International were closed Sunday evening but were expected to reopen early Monday as the brunt of the storm moved north.

In one sign of the severity of the storm, an NFL football game scheduled for Philadelphia was postponed, forcing the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings to reschedule their game for Tuesday.

The sport loves to glorify great games in snow, but public safety became an issue with the weather service forecasting 15 to 25 inches of snowfall in many areas.

On one of the busiest travel days of the year, the U.S. National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings along the coast from Maine down to New Jersey with winter storm warnings in effect for nearly the entire East Coast.

The air travel nightmare was made worse when Amtrak canceled passenger rail service between New York and Boston.

"We left the day after Christmas to avoid the Christmas craze. I guess that didn't work out so well," said Colleen James of Montclair, N.J. She, her husband, their two young children and their dachshund were at Newark Airport trying to reach family in Iowa, but their connecting flight to Chicago was delayed more than two and a half hours.