Snowstorm winds down in Northeast

Doyle Rice | USA TODAY

Although it's not technically winter yet, the 50 million Americans in the northeastern U.S. had to deal with another winter storm Tuesday that snarled commutes and travel schedules.

Snow fell through the morning in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York City. Due to the snow, the federal government shut its doors in the nation's capital for the day.

By late afternoon, the storm was over for the big cities, though winter storm advisories remained in place in southern New England.

While this storm was over, heavy lake-effect snow was expected to fall over the next few days in the typical snow-belt regions of the Great Lakes. The heaviest snow will occur in Upstate New York downwind of Lakes Erie and Ontario, where up to two feet of snow could fall this week, according to the National Weather Service.

Tuesday's storm brought an average of about 3 inches to most spots, but a few locations received up to half a foot. Some of the highest snow reports by state, were 6.5 inches in Red Lion, Pa.; 6 inches in Manchester, Md.; 5 inches in Cross Junction, Va.; and 4.8 inches in Bunker Hill, W.Va., according to AccuWeather meteorologist Jesse Ferrell.

The weather service reported that about 1-3 inches fell in the New York City area. In the National Capital area, 0.9 inch fell at National Airport in Washington and 1.3 inches fell at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.

Airports and airlines were still scrambling. Almost 1,400 flights had been canceled nationwide as of 5:45 p.m. ET, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware.

At Newark Liberty, more than 280 flights (combined departures and arrivals) had been canceled as of 5:45 p.m. ET. More than 200 cancellations were being reported at a number of other busy airports in the region, including New York LaGuardia, Philadelphia and Washington Reagan National. Washington Dulles had about 100 cancellations.

This storm was bad news for air travelers following a dreadful day Monday, when 1,900 flights were canceled and 8,100 more delayed, according to FlightStats.

The winter storms are being fueled in part by an Arctic blast of frigid air that froze highways in the middle of the country over the weekend. Frigid temperatures remained in place Monday for most of the north-central U.S., with many locations at or near 0 degrees. Minot, N.D., reached 5 degrees Monday afternoon, the city's first above-zero reading since last Wednesday.

Nationally, the USA is seeing an unusually snowy December: In all, 66.9% of the USA was snow covered as of Monday, according to data from the National Weather Service. That percentage was the highest for the date in at least the past 10 years.

Contributing: Ben Mutzabaugh