Northeast blasted by snow, beneficial rain as major airport hubs face travel delays

NEW YORK – As Thanksgiving travelers hit the road, a potent early-season snowstorm over the Northeast caused travel delays and disruptions. 

More than a foot of snow fell in parts of Upstate New York and northeastern Pennsylvania, according to the FOX Forecast Center. High Point, New Jersey reported 20 inches of snow, while 19 inches fell in Cortez, Pennsylvania and 17.1 inches were on the ground in Franklin, New York. 

Traffic along Interstate 84 near Scranton, Pennsylvania ground to a halt Friday morning as heavy snow covered the roads and dimmed visibility.

Winter weather put a halt to air travel at Greater Binghamton Airport in Johnson City, New York. Delays and cancellations were also reported at other major airport hubs in New York, Boston and Washington.

Weather observation sites in both Wilkes Barre and Binghamton reported some of their heaviest snowfall tallies on record in November, which caused extensive power outages.

More than 125,000 power outages were reported in New York and Pennsylvania due to falling trees.

Local utility companies pledged to have the majority of the outages restored by the end of the weekend.

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Snow levels were expected to remain high enough that only the highest terrain received significant snow. Cities such as Boston and Portland, Maine, remained all rain.

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The Federal Aviation Administration reported aircraft delays of between 1 and 2 hours at many cities in the Northeast, including at the Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport in Boston, New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport and nearby Newark International Airport. 

Delays were expected to improve on Saturday; however, gusty winds and residual precipitation would likely still result in some travel delays. 

The precipitation is expected to help ease some of the record-breaking drought conditions and reduce the wildfire threat that has been plaguing the region. Over 7 inches of snow has been reported in the area around the deadly Jennings Creek Fire that is smoldering along the New Jersey-New York border, the FOX Forecast Center said.

Behind this storm system, the coldest air of the season will pour south out of Canada in the days after Thanksgiving and into the start of December. Much of the country will experience below-average temperatures as travelers head home, the FOX Forecast Center said.