Airlines cancel more than 1,000 flights

NEW YORK - The first big storm of the season burdened the metropolitan area with up to 9 inches of snow Friday, forcing airlines to cancel more than 1,100 flights and making travel miserable on highways and sidewalks.

A winter storm warning was canceled at midafternoon, as the snow changed to rain in the city, but sleet and freezing rain were predicted for overnight.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said that his army of 2,000 snowfighters was expecting as much as 10 inches by Saturday morning — and that it would cost $1 million an inch to clear away.

The storm's impact was felt far from New York, as airports around the country were hamstrung by canceled incoming flights.

"There are no weather problems in Kansas City today, but if that plane from New York to Kansas City is five hours late, then that flight out of Kansas City has no plane," said AccuWeather meteorologist Tom Kines.

By midafternoon Friday more than 1,100 flights had been canceled at the region's three airports, including nearly 550 at LaGuardia Airport alone, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman Steve Coleman said. Flights were delayed up to three hours at LaGuardia and up to 2 1/2 hours at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport, he said.

The National Weather Service measured 6 inches in Central Park by noon, when the storm was still going strong. Staten Island, Floral Park and Croton-on-Hudson had 8 inches and Stratford, Conn., had 9.

Times Square was a mess of gray slush by afternoon, but that didn't matter to Sydney Cooper of Kingsport, Tenn.

"It's great," said Cooper. "We don't get snow in Tennessee, so I prayed for it. I was supposed to leave this morning but my flight got canceled."

Mark Mathebane, a fashion designer from Brooklyn, was taking it less in stride.

"I hate the snow," he said. "It dirties your shoes, especially when they throw salt on the ground. Salt destroys leather."

Bloomberg found a silver lining in the snow clouds — the storm came on a Friday, allowing for a weekend cleanup — and suggested New Yorkers enjoy free hot chocolate and sledding in the parks. But he also warned that Friday night's commute could be dangerous.

"Please, please, please, even if it looks clear, wear your seat belt, drive slowly," he implored. A winter weather advisory was in effect until 1 a.m. Saturday.

The storm caused countless accidents in the region, including jackknifed tractor-trailers on Interstate 95 in Greenwich, Conn., and an overturned oil tanker on a residential street in Greenburgh. A man was killed in an accident on Interstate 84 in Newtown, Conn.

On Long Island, Paul May said his usual 25-minute morning commute took "a good hour and a half."

"I didn't go over 30 mph on the expressway," he said. "It's very slippery. The roads are treacherous."

Anthony Grady, a Coca-Cola delivery man unloading bottles at a Manhattan convenience store, said his normally five-hour route "might take me 10 hours."

A power outage, possibly weather-related, blacked out 1,600 homes and businesses for about two hours on Staten Island, said Consolidated Edison spokesman Chris Olert.

Many schools in the area were on holiday anyway, but most of the others, from Ohio to Connecticut, were closed by the storm. Aqueduct Raceway canceled its horse races. The Long Island Rail Road City added early afternoon trains to accommodate commuters leaving the city early.

The big storm, which had brought everything from freezing rain to sleet to snow in parts of Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois and Ohio on Thursday, lumbered eastward and northward overnight. Ice on Missouri roads was a factor in accidents that killed five people Thursday and early Friday, the State Highway Patrol said.

New York City had gone through January with no measurable snow, and the biggest storm before Friday's dumped less than 3 inches. But Kines suggested there might be more ahead, saying, "It's not a mild weather pattern we're heading into."

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Associated Press writers David Caruso and Amy Westfeldt in New York, Frank Eltman on Long Island, Jim Fitzgerald in White Plains, and Cara Rubinsky in New Haven, Conn., contributed to this report.