Snow Keeps Key Midwest Roads Shut

Blowing, drifting snow shut down major highways in the upper Midwest for a second day Sunday with drifts reported up to 10 feet high, stalling travelers wherever they could find shelter.

Snowbound motorists crowded motels and truck stops in Minnesota and eastern North and South Dakota, waiting out the storm that dumped as much as 23 inches of snow and piled it up with winds gusting past 40 mph.

The storm struck Saturday and began winding down Sunday, allowing crews to reopen some highways, but hundreds of miles of Interstates 90, 29 and 94 remained closed in the three states.

Three traffic deaths were blamed on the storm in South Dakota, and one man fell to his death in Minnesota while clearing snow from his roof.

There was no estimate of how many cars and trucks were stuck. “We couldn’t count that high,” said Dayle Peterson, a Minnesota State Patrol dispatcher.

Weather also snarled travel in the Northeast, with thick fog virtually shutting down Boston’s Logan International Airport as college students and others returned from extended holidays. Airports in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut were also affected.

Air traffic controllers in Boston declared a ground hold at 11:45 a.m. EST, limiting landings to airplanes with sophisticated instrument systems. That meant only two or three flights per hour were landing through the afternoon.

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Dozens of flight cancellations were reported at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, and there were delays of up to 60 minutes at La Guardia and Newark airports.

In the Midwest, many secondary roads were impassable or had one-lane traffic, and Minnesota police said driving conditions in the west-central part of the state were “extremely dangerous.”

All 149 rooms were taken at a Holiday Inn in Alexandria, Minn., near I-94, and the motel turned its banquet room into a “mini suite” with about half a dozen people sleeping on pool chairs, said manager Jamie Mortland. There was no charge.