The Weather Channel reported early Wednesday that blizzard warnings had been issued for New York City and parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland. New York City was expected to get up to 12 inches of snow. Along the East Coast, thousands of workers were scrambling to plow and salt roads. Maryland officials said salt supplies used by road crews were dwindling in some parts of the state. A spokesman for Pennsylvania's Department of Transportation said drivers' shifts were running as long as 16 hours. "It can be exhausting, mentally and physically," said Jerry Graham, a state plow truck driver in Pennsylvania's Lehigh County. Areas that dodged last week's storm, which buried some areas in nearly 3 feet of snow, won't be as lucky this time around. Airports in the New York City area joined their counterparts farther south in canceling many flights, while the city's 1.1 million school children had a rare snow day Wednesday, only the third in six years. As much as a foot was expected there. "It's hard to find anything in the history books of these types of storms back-to-back," said National Weather Service meteorologist Stephen Konarik. The storms have kept some workers and students home for the better part of a week. About 230,000 federal workers in Washington have been off since Friday afternoon, when the first storm began. The U.S. House announced it was scrapping the rest of its workweek. Several hearings and meetings in Congress and federal agencies were postponed, including one planned to address Toyota's massive recalls. Thousands remained without power from the last storm in parts of western Pennsylvania, Maryland and other areas. Utilities said deep snow was hindering some crews trying to fix damaged power lines even before Tuesday's storm arrived. The Washington area was expected to get a foot or more of snow, while Baltimore and Philadelphia could each get as many as 20 inches.
