BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- Northern New England should brace for as much as 18 inches of snow as a winter storm, blamed for three deaths, blows through the Great Lakes states late Sunday.
Motorists slid off roads as the storm cut visibility and iced over highways with drifts, sleet and freezing rain. The National Weather Service posted winter storm warnings from Michigan, which could get 14 inches of snow in some areas, to Indiana and all the way to Maine.
About a foot of snow had fallen in parts of Chicago and Ann Arbor, Michigan, with 10 inches in Vermont.
"Our biggest advice right now is stay home," said Maine State Police Sgt. Andrew Donovan.
Visibility in the blowing snow was less than 200 yards, and in stronger gusts "if there's a car in front of you, you can't even see it," he said.
Every available plow truck was at work in Vermont, said Reggie Brown, highway department dispatcher in Montpelier. "Everybody's out and running," he said.
Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Mike Claffey said 1,000 trucks were out clearing snow Sunday.
Snow depths in some places were uncertain. "They can't tell how much because it's blowing so hard," Brown said.
"I don't mind an inch or two, but this is too much," said Larry Thelen in Ann Arbor.
The Hancock County Sheriff's Office in northwestern Ohio declared roads off limits to nonemergency vehicles, threatening anyone else traveling through the county with arrest. Wind gusts as high as 40 mph blew snow around and diminished visibility.
The storm canceled hundreds of flights at airports in Chicago, where Midway Airport measured 10 inches of snow Sunday morning. In Maine, most of Portland International Jetport's inbound and outbound flights were canceled, said city Transportation Director Jeff Monroe. Numerous flights were canceled at Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
Many churches called off Sunday services because of the hazardous driving conditions.
"I don't want folks to venture out because we're having church and they feel obligated," the Rev. Glenn Mortimer said after calling off services at Wakefield-Lynnfield United Methodist Church in Wakefield, Massachusetts.
He noted that some people still hadn't completely dug out from Thursday's storm that dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of Massachusetts.
Both Eastern Michigan University and the University of Connecticut postponed winter commencement ceremonies scheduled for Sunday.
The storm didn't keep fans away from the New England Patriots vs. New York Jets game at Foxborough, Massachusetts, but they had to shovel off their seats in the stadium. A video of a fire roaring in a fireplace was shown on the scoreboards at both ends of the field.
At Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, strong winds collapsed a fabric dome used for hospitality events before and after games. No one was inside or hurt when the structure fell Sunday morning.
And in Buffalo, New York, the weather didn't deter Bills fans who rose early for a bus trip to Cleveland for a game against the Browns.
"Rain, snow, sleet, whatever, we'll be there," Brian Kras said, boarding a chartered bus at 5:30 a.m.
During the Bills and Browns game Sunday a severe storm pounded the Lake Erie shoreline with heavy snow and intense winds. The temperature was 30 degrees at kickoff, and with wind gusts hitting 40 mph, Browns Stadium was transformed into a super-sized snow globe. Browns huddled for warmth near space heaters by their bench.
Unable to get any traction, players slipped all over the field and officials had difficulty spotting the ball in the blustery conditions. Punts and passes were adventures as anything not grounded was quickly blown off-target.
During the first quarter, stadium groundskeepers did their best to keep the yard lines, sidelines and hashmarks visible, but as soon as they completed one attempt, they had to start another to keep up with the snow.
The storm also didn't stand in the way of dedicated Christmas shoppers.
"The reason we came out in the storm early, early, is that we knew there would be no lines," Michael McGrath, 48, of Boston, said as he stomped along partly shoveled downtown sidewalks. "It was true. The stores were empty."
Betty Gould and Rocky Castellano drove about 20 miles from Pittsfield, New Hampshire, to Steeplegate Mall in Concord, New Hampshire.
Asked if she considered staying home, Gould said: "Never."
"We like the snow," Gould said. "He thinks he's invincible. He has four-wheel drive, studded tires, the whole bit."
Instead of church, Paul Milner of Chittenango, New York, went to a neighborhood grocery market to stock up.
"The roads weren't bad. But they say there's more on the way. Guess that shouldn't be any surprise in upstate New York in mid-December," he said.
Slippery roads were blamed for two traffic deaths in Michigan and one in Wisconsin
More than 100,000 customers were blacked out Sunday in parts of Pennsylvania, utilities reported. Scattered outages caused by heavy snow and freezing rain also were reported in Vermont, state officials said.
The storm came less than a week after an ice storm blamed for at least 38 deaths, mostly in traffic accidents, in the middle of the country. Thousands of homes and business still had no electricity in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/weather/1...l?iref=24hours
Furious snow storm blows north, blankets Great Lakes states 
Linear Mode
