More snow, ice jam runways, depots, roads

Travelers face second night on terminal floor

A Metro bus was routed around a tree that fell across Highway 99 in north Seattle yesterday after a week of heavy snowfall. Snow again was predicted for this morning, but temperatures were expected to warm. (Elaine Thompson/ Associated Press)

CHICAGO - Hundreds of holiday travelers spent the night Tuesday in the nation's second-busiest airport and some of them faced the prospect of doing it again on Christmas Eve as airports across the country recovered from a barrage of snow and ice storms.

Conditions improved but highways were still dangerously slippery in some areas.

More snow fell in the Midwest, where the National Weather Service said up to 4 more inches of snow was possible in Chicago. The Northwest faced more snow and sleet, with up to 20 inches possible in the Cascade range in Washington, and icy, wet weather spread over the Northeast.

At least 23 highway deaths had been attributed to the weather, including those of a woman and her 7-month-old son in a two-vehicle crash early yesterday in southeastern Wisconsin.

About 500 travelers had to spend the night at Chicago's O'Hare International after stormy weather canceled more than 500 flights Tuesday, said Chicago Aviation Department spokeswoman Karen Pride. Some slept on cots, some on the floor, or across waiting-room seats.

Newlyweds Tommy and Siobhan Costello were at O'Hare yesterday gearing up to spend their second night stranded in an airport hotel en route to their honeymoon in San Diego. They arrived from their native Ireland on Tuesday, but weather disruptions meant the earliest flight out they could get was today.

"This was supposed to be a pit stop," said Siobhan Costello, 30. "But there's nothing you can do."

At O'Hare's American Airlines terminal, Paul Fustini waited with a bag of food for his daughter Sara, who was trying to get home to Orlando, Fla. Her flight was canceled Tuesday and she finally got a flight for this afternoon.

"She wishes I would have brought a toothbrush," Fustini said.

More than 100 flights were canceled at O'Hare yesterday.

The New York metro area's Kennedy and Newark airports reported arrival delays of up to 3 hours, the Federal Aviation Administration reported.

"The airlines are dealing with nothing but unhappy customers," said Mike Conway, spokesman for Detroit's Metropolitan Airport, where delays were reported in departures and arrivals because of conditions elsewhere in the country.

The weather service posted winter storm warnings and advisories for large parts of the West, plus parts of the Midwest and the Northeast.

Driving conditions were still tough in Oregon's Portland metro area, where many side streets were clogged with snow and motorists were required to have tire chains, unless they had four-wheel drive and tires designed for hazardous weather. More snow fell in the region yesterday.

Oregon's largest utility, PGE, said it had restored service to 265,000 customers since the storm arrived Friday, but 47,000 were still blacked out yesterday.

Police in southeastern Pennsylvania reported a spate of traffic delays and accidents caused by ice, including one 22-vehicle crash. No serious injuries were reported.

Motorists in Michigan had to cope with drifting snow in places, in addition to ice-covered pavement.

"It looks like all areas should see a white Christmas," meteorologist Dave Kook said from the weather service office in Oakland County's White Lake Township. "There's enough snow on the ground that it won't all melt away with the rain."

Despite more snow falling in the Seattle area, operations at Sea-Tac Airport were back to normal Wednesday, said spokeswoman Terri-Ann Betancourt. She said the last of thousands of passengers who were stranded by weekend cancellations were gone by Tuesday, and the only flight cancellations were caused by delays or cancellations at other airports.

"I've lived here 16 years and this is the first time I've thought 'I wish it would rain!' " Betancourt said.

The weather service said she could get her wish, at least briefly, with snow showers changing to rain last night.

Amtrak also reported improvement. Trains out of Chicago and elsewhere were leaving on time - or relatively close to it. On Tuesday, several trains were canceled and about 600 travelers waited as long as 22 hours for delayed trains at Chicago's Union Station, spokesman Marc Magliari said.

At least 23 people were killed in crashes on rain and ice-slickened roads Tuesday and yesterday - six in Wisconsin, four each in Indiana and Kentucky, two in Missouri, two in Kansas, one in Oklahoma, one in Ohio, one in Iowa, one in Massachusetts, and a state lawmaker was killed in West Virginia.

Also yesterday, an avalanche in the Rocky Mountains killed two snowmobilers in northern Utah. The Utah Avalanche Center warned people not to venture into the backcountry.