Quick-moving winter storm brings snow to Northeast

A quick-moving winter storm battered cities in the Northeast with snowfall, sending huge waves crashing into the New England coastline and forcing New York City schools into glitchfilled remote learning reminiscent of the early days of the pandemic.

Airlines canceled or delayed flights while accidents were reported on slippery roads, and at least one person died.

The storm produced snowfall totals that were significant in some cities but less than expected in others. New York City recorded 3 inches of snow in Central Park, but areas of Pennsylvania and Connecticut were blanketed with 15 inches (38.10 centimeters) of fluffy snow, according to National Weather Service reports.

In New York City, the nation's largest school district opted to shift to remote learning instead of giving students and staff a snow day, sparking criticism by many. And when classes began, technical problems prevented many of the 915,000 students from logging in, exacerbating the discontent.

PS 112 in East Harlem had a promising start to its virtual school day with a readaloud, teacher Jessica Roach said. But the rest of the morning, when teachers and families tried to access the district's domain, cascading technical problems confused her young special education students and inconvenienced their parents.

More than 1,000 flights were canceled Tuesday morning, mostly at the airports in the New York City area and in Boston. Accidents were reported across the region and several states banned tandem and empty tractor-trailers from highways.

There were more than 145,000 power outages reported Tuesday morning in Pennsylvania and several thousand in New Jersey, but few outages in New York and New England, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.

Authorities in Newberry Township, Pennsylvania, said a man operating a snowmobile was killed when he hit a downed utility line around 8 a.m. Tuesday during the storm. The cause and manner of death were pending further investigation.

In Connecticut, Gov. Ned Lamont ordered all executive branch office buildings closed to the public for the day, and all state courts were closed.

Ahead of the storm, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey told all non-essential Executive Branch employees to not report to work Tuesday. Boston schools were closed and a parking ban was in effect until 4 p.m. Similar closures and bans were put in place in other cities and towns.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said the city's homeless shelters would remain open.

STEVEN SENNE — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Nelson Taylor, of Providence, R.I., uses cross-country skis while making his way along a residential street on Tuesday. Much of the Northeast received from a new storm.