Storm blankets parts of the US during busy holiday travel weekend with more snow and cold forecast

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The first big snowfall of the season blanketed parts of New York, Pennsylvania and Michigan during the hectic U.S. holiday travel and shopping weekend, with numbing cold and heavy snow forecast to persist through the early part of the week and cause hazards in the Great Lakes, Plains and Midwest regions. In an update Saturday afternoon, the weather service said the heaviest snow totals were expected “downwind of lakes Erie and Ontario, affecting areas from northeast Ohio, far northwest Pennsylvania, western New York State and portions of northwest New York state.” In a phone interview Saturday with WWNY-TV, New York Gov. Bands of snow rolling off Lake Superior buried parts of the Upper Peninsula under 2 feet or more, said Lily Chapman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Marquette, Michigan. Gaylord, Michigan, received 24.8 inches of snow Friday, setting a new single-day record for the city in a region dotted by ski resorts, said Keith Berger of the weather service’s Gaylord office.