The storm, which complicated travel and busted plans for the three-day weekend across much of the country, caused problems from Kansas, where the governor declared an emergency, to Maine, where forecasters predicted up to 2 feet of snow and warned of avalanches.
The fallout was bleak: Flights canceled by the hundreds, extensive power failures and warnings to stay off the roads in cities like Chicago, where downtown was conspicuously quiet Saturday morning as plows tried to keep up with the growing piles of snow.
Though the snowstorm was not exactly surprising — it is January, after all — its impact proved frightening. In Omaha, Nebraska, the airport closed for a time Friday after a Southwest Airlines plane slid off the runway after landing.
In Kansas, the state Department of Transportation said one its drivers died Saturday morning in a crash south of Kansas City.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family members and the co-workers of our driver,” Julie Lorenz, the interim transportation secretary in Kansas, said in a statement. “KDOT is one big family, and we know there are many people impacted by this.”
By Saturday morning, more than 8 inches of snow had fallen in Libertyville, Illinois, northwest of Chicago, and more than 3 inches in Des Moines, Iowa. Nearly 300 flights had been canceled at Chicago’s two airports, according to FlightAware.
The storm’s impact was expected to worsen as it moved toward the East Coast on Saturday night. New York City was expected to get up to 3 inches of snow, with multiples of that forecast for upstate areas. Parts of Massachusetts could see up to 1 foot of snow, the National Weather Service warned. Dozens of flights had been canceled at airports in New York City and Boston.
“If there is ever a weekend to stay in and binge-watch something, this may be it,” said Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey, who declared a state of emergency starting at noon Saturday.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.