Winter Storm Hits Northeast, Midwest

Edigio DiPaola, owner of Spennato's Restaurant in Northfield, Ohio -- a good place for a romantic dinner with its low lighting, intimate tables, lace tablecloths, Italian wine and marinara sauce -- was not expecting much of a Valentine's Day crowd, not with 15 inches of snow on the ground and the temperature in the single digits.

"We are dead," DiPaola said. "No one's on the roads. We don't expect anything tonight. It's very bad news -- this was a big day for us. Now it will be way below average."

Vermont's state government ordered all nonessential employees to go home after noon, the New York Capitol in Albany came to a near-halt, and some Pennsylvania state workers were told to stay home. Maine's governor declared a state of emergency to ensure deliveries of heating oil.

Parts of Vermont received up to 26 inches of snow, prompting state officials to order tractor-trailers off the roads.

In Upstate New York, more than three feet of snow fell in Herkimer County in the Adirondacks. But the brunt of the storm bypassed towns near the east end of Lake Ontario that had been buried by 10 feet and more of lake-effect snow over the past week.

In the Midwest, Springfield, Ill., got 16 inches of snow, and stiff winds piled the snow into drifts as high as nine feet in parts of Indiana.

Hundreds of flights were canceled at the three major airports of the New York City area, as well as at airports in Albany, Boston, Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia, Cincinnati and Indianapolis.

About 300,000 customers lost power in Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, Indiana and New York's Long Island.

The storm was blamed for three deaths in Nebraska; two each in Indiana, New Jersey and Delaware; and one each in Missouri, Ohio and Virginia. A tornado on the southern side of the huge weather system killed one person in Louisiana.

The storm was good news for the ski industry in New England, where snow has been sparse this winter.

"Best day of the year," snowboarder Willie Bozack, 28, of Moretown, Vt., said outside the base lodge at Sugarbush Resort. "It's epic."