Holiday Storm Dumps Snow on Northeast - East Idaho News
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Holiday Storm Dumps Snow on Northeast

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abc wn storms 631 121226 wg?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1356611979108ABC News(NEW YORK) — The powerful winter storm that pounded the Midwest is expected to drop more than a foot of snow on some parts of the Northeast, bringing more travel plans to a screeching halt with high winds, snow and sleet.

Overnight, the storm dropped close to a foot of snow in Buffalo, N.Y., and nine inches in Rochester, N.Y., while 7.5 inches were reported in Indianapolis — the most snow in four years.  Anywhere from one to more than three inches of rain fell from Washington, D.C., to Boston, as wind gusts as strong as 74 mph blew in New Jersey.

The rain is expected to subside on Thursday, with wind gusts near 60 mph remaining.  But snow showers will continue in upstate New York and into northern New England, where more than a foot of snow could fall.

As of Thursday morning, more than 150,000 customers from Texas to Maine were without power because of the storm.  More than 130,000 of those power outages have been reported in Arkansas.

Six people have died, mostly in weather-related car crashes.  

Thirteen states remain under winter storm warnings, blizzard warnings and advisories, down from 18 during the height of the storm.

More than 350 flights nationwide have already been canceled on Thursday, down from the 1,777 flights that were canceled on Wednesday, according to FlightAware.com.  The majority of the cancellations are in the Northeast, which is experiencing the brunt of the storm as it moves out to sea.

That frustration is even boiling over into the cockpit.  One American Airlines pilot was clearly fed up after waiting for five hours to take off from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on Tuesday.

“It’s beyond reproach.  I have no words to tell you how sorry I am for all of this. Decisions are being made way above our heads by people that obviously, in my humble opinion, don’t have a clue what they’re doing,” the pilot said to passengers on the plane.

Passengers on that plane told ABC News affiliate WFAA that the flight never left the gate on its trip to Las Vegas.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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