TRENTON, N.J. (AP/AccuWeather) -- Windy weather has replaced the wintry mix of snow, sleet and rain that blanketed the Tri-State area over the weekend.
David Wally, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said gusts could reach 50 miles per hour in some areas of north Jersey, though skies should be partly sunny.
Those strong winds could down tree branches and power lines; a wind advisory is in effect until 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Airports in the New York City metropolitan area -- Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark-Liberty International -- were reporting delays of two hours or more on flight departures and arrivals due to high winds.
"The rainfall is over,'' Wally said. "There will be strong winds on the backside of the storm.''
The wind caused some trouble for electric companies, with Atlantic City Electric reporting that almost 1,400 customers lost power. Spokeswoman Kennya Seeney said the majority of the outages were in Cape May County and that crews had been dispatched to work on the problems.
The state's largest utility, PSE&G, had only minor scattered outages, according to Melissa Ficuciello, a spokeswoman for the utility. The only outage that was sizable involved more than 200 customers in New Brunswick on Monday evening, but the utility expected to restore power quickly.
Jersey Central Power & Light Co.'s central region had fewer than 100 outages Monday evening, a spokesman said.
By early evening Monday, JCP&L's northern region had about 600 customers, mostly in the Flemington area, without power, down from 3,500 customers without power earlier in the day, said spokesman Stan Prater.
Meanwhile, the worst of the storm is over for motorists, said Erin Phalon, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.
The high winds prompted a motorcycle and travel trailer ban on the New Jersey Turnpike, according to spokesman Joe Orlando. He did not know how long the ban would stay in effect.
Wet, icy roads were blamed for several overnight accidents, however.
In Bergen County, state police and transportation workers cleared a 15-car pile up on Route 3 overnight that left one dead and 28 injured. It was cleared by 6:30 a.m. for the Monday morning rush.
Other late-night and early morning crashes included ones on I-80 in Saddle River, Route 3 in Rutherford, on Route 9 north in Woodbridge, and on Route 18 north in Piscataway. A few approaches from Newark also were shut down Sunday night.
A dancer with the American Ballet Theatre has died in a car crash in New Jersey while returning from performing in "The Nutcracker'' in Pennsylvania.
The New York-based ballet company says 35-year-old Jennifer Alexander died Sunday night at the scene of the crash on Route 3 in East Rutherford.
A spokesman for the Bergen County prosecutor's office says the 10-car pileup is under investigation. He says there was one other fatality in another car.
Three other dancers were in the car with Alexander. One was her husband, who remains hospitalized.
Alexander joined the American Ballet Theatre in 1994. She was returning from a guest appearance in the Williamsport Civic Ballet's annual performance of "The Nutcracker.''
Also, a 44-year-old Egg Harbor Township woman was killed early Monday morning when the car she was riding in smashed into the abutment of a toll lane on the Garden State Parkway about 30 miles north of Atlantic City. Police said the road was wet at the time of the wreck.
Winter storm warnings were in effect in northern and western New York.
The wet and cold weather that rolled into the state over the weekend was expected to continue into Monday afternoon, with possible lake effect snow in western New York and heavy winds in the eastern part of the state.
By early afternoon, airports in the New York City metropolitan area -- Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark-Liberty International -- were reporting delays of two hours or more on flight departures and arrivals due to high winds. Albany International Airport said two flights were canceled early Monday morning.
In central New York, 3 to 6 inches fell on Sunday, blanketing most areas between Binghamton and Syracuse. Ice caused a JetBlue plane to slide off the runway at Syracuse's Hancock Airport late Sunday night. No one was hurt, but it took crews two hours to free the stuck plane.
The city Department of Buildings advised property owners, builders and contractors to secure all materials that could come loose due to the high winds, such as scaffolding and debris.
Wind also possibly caused debris to fly from two structures in Manhattan, causing two minor injuries and forcing the closure of West 40th Street between Seventh and Eighth avenues, police and fire officials said. The other location was Sixth Avenue near West 55th Street.
The weather service issued a winter storm warning for areas south of Buffalo, including Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and southern Erie counties. The warning was in effect until 5 p.m. Tuesday.
The weather was blamed for at least one death in western New York, where an 18-year-old woman was killed Sunday when her car slid into the path of another vehicle on a rural road in Cattaraugus County.
In the mid Hudson Valley, more than two dozen school districts delayed the start of classes because of the icy weather, while a handful in New York City's northern suburbs did the same.
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