East Coast digs out from storm for record books

Snowbound airports resumed limited operations but many flights were still canceled or delayed. School systems in the path of the storm remained closed for a second day, including in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., although New York City school children headed back to class after only their third snow day in six years.

LDS Church President Thomas S. Monson was among those affected by the storm. The Church leader, who has served more than 40 years on the National Executive Board of Boy Scouts of America, went to Washington on Monday for national meetings, which included a program Tuesday commemorating the 100th anniversary of the founding of Scouting in the United States. Because of the storm, he had to spend an extra day at a hotel in the nations capital, and is expected to return to Salt Lake City today.

In Washington, the federal government was closed for a fourth straight day. The nation's capital joined Philadelphia and Baltimore in logging their snowiest winters in history.

Paul Kocin, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Washington, D.C., said the storm compares to some of the greatest ever largely because of its timing. He estimated 50 million people were affected.

"The big difference is that it occurred within a week and a half of three other storms," Kocin said. "The combination of storms is almost unprecedented — the amount of snow, the amount of impact."

The latest storm dumped over 19 inches in Baltimore, 10 inches in Washington, D.C. and 16 inches in Philadelphia. About 20 inches fell in central New Jersey and totals ranged from 10 to 16 inches around New York City.

About 50 people spent the night in their vehicles on Maryland sections of U.S. 340 and U.S. 15 in snow that drifted 6 to 8 feet, authorities said Thursday.

"We have had staff working overnight, monitoring cell phone contact with folks, checking on their welfare," Tom Owens, director of Frederick County Emergency Services. He said emergency workers reached some vehicles on foot during the night, but most of those stranded, including a family with children, chose to stay in their vehicles rather than take shelter at nearby fire stations.

The cars got stuck Wednesday afternoon during the peak of a 23-inch snowfall, Owens said.

Rescue workers, including the National Guard, broke through drifts as high as 12 feet as they tried to bring in tow trucks to remove jackknifed tractor-trailers that caused the blockages about 60 miles west of Baltimore, Owens said.