STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — An unusually early and powerful nor’easter dumped wet, heavy snow Saturday from the mid-Atlantic to New England, toppling leafy trees and power lines and knocking out electricity to more than 2 million homes and businesses.
Communities inland were getting hit hardest, with eastern Pennsylvania serving as the bull’s-eye for the storm. West Milford, N.J., about 45 miles northwest of New York City, had received 15.5 inches of snow by Saturday night, while Plainfield, Mass., had gotten 14.3 inches. New York City’s Central Park set a record for both the date and the month of October with 1.3 inches of snow.
More than 2.3 million customers lost power from Maryland north through Massachusetts, and utilities were sending crews from other states to help restore it. More than half a million residents in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut were without power, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
By late Saturday, the storm had vacated most of Pennsylvania and was tracking northeast.
Throughout the region, officials had warned that the early storm would bring sticky snow on the heels of the week’s warmer weather and could create dangerous conditions. New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts declared states of emergencies, and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for 13 counties.
Authorities had blamed at least three deaths on the storm by Saturday night.
The heaviest snow was forecast for late Saturday and into today in the Massachusetts Berkshires, the Litchfield Hills in northwest Connecticut, southwest New Hampshire and the southern Green Mountains. Wind gusts of up to 55 mph were predicted, especially along coastal areas.
Some said that even though they knew a storm was coming, the severity caught them by surprise.
“This is absolutely a lot more snow than I expected to see today. I can’t believe it’s not even Halloween, and it’s snowing already,” Carole Shepherd of Washington Township, N.J., said after shoveling her driveway.
The storm disrupted travel along the Eastern Seaboard. Philadelphia International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport all endured hourslong delays Saturday. Amtrak suspended service between Philadelphia and Harrisburg, Pa., and commuter trains in Connecticut and New Yorkwere delayed or suspended because of downed trees and signal problems.
Residents were urged to avoid travel altogether. Speed limits were reduced on bridges between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. A few roads closed because of accidents and downed trees and power lines, and more were expected, said Sean Brown, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
In eastern Pennsylvania, snow caused widespread problems. It toppled trees and a few power lines and led to minor traffic accidents, according to dispatchers. Allentown, expected to get 4 to 8 inches, is likely to break the city’s October record of 2.2 inches set on Halloween in 1925.
The last major widespread snowstorm to hit Pennsylvania this early was in 1972, said John LaCorte, a National Weather Service meteorologist in State College.
In southeastern Pennsylvania, an 84-year-old man was killed when a snow-laden tree fell on his home. Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy said one person died in a Colchester traffic accident that he blamed on slippery conditions.
In Springfield, Mass., a 20-year-old man was electrocuted when high winds and wet, heavy snow downed a power line.
The first measurable snow in New England usually falls in early December, and normal highs for late October are in the mid-50s.
Dee Lund of East Hampton, Conn., who was at a Glastonbury garage Friday getting four new tires for her car before a weekend road trip to New Hampshire, said that after last winter’s record snowfall, which left a 12-foot snowbank outside her house, she’d been hoping for a reprieve.
“This is just wrong,” she said.
Information for this article was contributed by Ron Todt, David B. Caruso, Colleen Long, Eric Tucker, Pat Eaton-Robb, Bruce Shipkowski, Jay Lindsay and Clarke Canfield of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 5 on 10/30/2011