NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A combination of below-freezing temperatures, flurries, and freezing rain in some areaa continued to promote black ice on roadways Saturday, especially in North Jersey. The dangerous ice follows the metro region's first big snowstorm of the season with up to 9 inches falling in spots.
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The icy conditions took a heavy toll on motorists traveling along Route 287 in Passaic County Friday night. As many as 30 vehicles were involved in a pileup on the Wanaque Bridge, after a salt truck and a tow truck slid into a fire truck at the scene of a jacknifed tractor trailer.
That was on the northbound side. On the southbound side, several vehicles overturned in a separate crash.
The roadway was completely closed for hours between exits 55 and 57.
No one was seriously hurt.
On Route 1 in Linden, a three-car crash reportedly left a pregnant woman in critical condition.
In Clifton early Saturday, a driver was hospitalized after hitting a patch of black ice and slamming into a pole.
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The first big storm of the season burdened the metropolitan area with up to 9 inches of snow Friday, forcing airlines to cancel more than 1,100 flights and making travel miserable on highways and sidewalks. Mayor Bloomberg said the cleaning cost would be about $1 million per inch of snow.
The storm's impact was felt far from New York, as airports around the country were hamstrung by canceled incoming flights. ``There are no weather problems in Kansas City, but if that plane from New York to Kansas City is five hours late, then that flight out of Kansas City has no plane,'' said AccuWeather meteorologist Tom Kines.
More than 1,100 flights were canceled at the region's three airports, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesman Steve Coleman said. The airlines were expected to be back on track by the end of the weekend.
The National Weather Service measured 6 inches in Central Park. Staten Island, Floral Park and Croton-on-Hudson had 8 inches and Stratford, Conn., had 9.
Times Square was a mess of gray slush, but that didn't matter to Sydney Cooper of Kingsport, Tenn. ``It's great,'' said Cooper. ``We don't get snow in Tennessee, so I prayed for it. I was supposed to leave this morning but my flight got canceled.''
Mark Mathebane, a fashion designer from Brooklyn, was taking it less in stride.
``I hate the snow,'' he said. ``It dirties your shoes, especially when they throw salt on the ground. Salt destroys leather.''
Bloomberg found a silver lining in the snow clouds, the storm came on a Friday, allowing for a weekend cleanup, and suggested New Yorkers enjoy free hot chocolate and sledding in the parks.
But he also had a warning: ``Please, please, please, even if it looks clear, wear your seat belt, drive slowly,'' he implored. A winter weather advisory was in effect until 1 a.m. Saturday.
The storm caused countless accidents in the region, including jackknifed tractor-trailers on Interstate 95 in Greenwich, Conn., and an overturned oil tanker on a residential street in Greenburgh.
A man was killed in an accident on Interstate 84 in Newtown, Conn. On Long Island, Paul May said his usual 25-minute commute took ``a good hour and a half.''
``I didn't go over 30 mph on the expressway,'' he said.
``It's very slippery. The roads are treacherous.'' Anthony Grady, a Coca-Cola delivery man unloading bottles at a Manhattan convenience store, said his normally five-hour route ``might take me 10 hours.''
A power outage, possibly weather-related, blacked out 1,600 homes and businesses for about two hours on Staten Island, said Consolidated Edison spokesman Chris Olert.
Many schools in the area were on holiday anyway, but most of the others, from Ohio to Connecticut, were closed by the storm. Aqueduct Raceway canceled its horse races.
The big storm, which had brought everything from freezing rain to sleet to snow in parts of Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois and Ohio on Thursday, lumbered eastward and northward overnight. Ice on Missouri roads was a factor in accidents that killed five people Thursday and early Friday, the State Highway Patrol said.
New York City had gone through January with no measurable snow, and the biggest storm before Friday's dumped less than 3 inches. But Kines suggested there might be more ahead, saying, ``It's not a mild weather pattern we're heading into.''
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