Winter storms cause post-Super Bowl travel delays, snarl Northeast

Unlike the Denver Broncos, winter in the Northeast just won’t quit.

A day after the Broncos fell to the Seattle Seahawks in a 43-8 Super Bowl blowout, another kind of blowout began in the region on Monday. Snow was again falling with worsening conditions forecast. Sports revelers who had traveled to New Jersey for the annual football rite -- and those who just happen to live there -- were facing traffic and airline problems.

The flight-tracking website FlightAware.com reported nearly 2,700 delayed flights and 1,800 canceled flights nationwide in cities including Philadelphia, New York and Newark, N.J. Inbound flights to metropolitan New York airports including Newark, LaGuardia and Kennedy were delayed two to three hours because of snow and ice.

The National Weather Service predicted a possible eight inches in Philadelphia and New York, with as much as 10 inches of snow expected in parts of Maryland and West Virginia. Temperatures that had reached the 50s by kickoff time on Sunday fell more than 20 degrees by Monday.

Significant snowfalls of more than six inches were reported in parts of the mid-Atlantic region. A second storm is moving in and a possible third storm could hit by the weekend or early next week.

“Snow and freezing rain are expected from the Ohio Valley into the Northeast,” the weather service warned. “Another system will bring heavy snow and freezing rain chances from the central Rockies across the lower Great Lakes into the Northeast through Wednesday. In addition to the winter weather impacts, flash flooding will also be possible Tuesday across the Ohio Valley.”

In addition to winter storm warnings in New Jersey, Delaware and New York City, the weather service posted storm warnings for parts of Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Some schools were closed in the Washington, D.C., area as well as parts of the Midwest.

The constant repetition of snow and cold have given this winter a feel of being stuck in a never-ending loop, which is the theme of the movie “Groundhog Day.” The film celebrates the custom of a waking groundhog seeking out his shadow and deciding whether there will be six weeks more of winter.

The famous groundhog is Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil but there are copy-rodents in states ranging from Georgia to Ohio. There is even a stuffed one in the nation’s capital.

Punxsutawney Phil apparently saw his shadow on Sunday, meaning six more weeks of winter. Though groundhogs are not considered the best of forecasters, scientists -- who use more sophisticated techniques than shadow-gazing -- also see more winter ahead.

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