Storm

BOSTON - A storm that forecasters warned could be a blizzard for the history books began clobbering the New York-to-Boston corridor on Friday, grounding flights, closing workplaces, and sending people rushing to get home ahead of a possible 1 to 3 feet of snow. From New Jersey to Maine, shoppers crowded into supermarkets and hardware stores to buy food, snow shovels, flashlights, and generators, something that became a precious commodity after Sandy hit in October. Across much of New England, schools closed well ahead of the first snowflakes.

The ducks knew. Just before the sky turned dark and high winds and heavy rains rushed in on the backs of some fierce thunderstorms yesterday, they huddled together near the western bank of the Schuylkill. On the banks of the river, along Kelly and West River Drives, family picnics, runners and bikers got caught by surprise. "I never saw a storm come up so fast," said Ira Stahl, 39, of West Philadelphia, who was trapped with several other bikers under a train trestle on West River Drive.

BOSTON - A storm that forecasters warned could be a blizzard for the history books began clobbering the New York-to-Boston corridor on Friday, grounding flights, closing workplaces, and sending people rushing to get home ahead of a possible 1 to 3 feet of snow. From New Jersey to Maine, shoppers crowded into supermarkets and hardware stores to buy food, snow shovels, flashlights, and generators, something that became a precious commodity after Sandy hit in October. Across much of New England, schools closed well ahead of the first snowflakes.

Of all the places in Bucks County to be stranded during last night's raging thunderstorm, McCaffrey's Supermarket in Yardley proved one of the most pleasant. About 20 residents took refuge at the market, unable to drive home because of flooding that made many roads impassable, said assistant manager Mike Larson. Many stayed for more than four hours, Larson said. "We're passing out cookies and some coffee and sodas," he said. Bucks County bore the brunt of the storm, which pounded the region with driving rain, hundreds of lightning strikes and jarring thunderclaps.

Surprise, surprise: Mother Nature gave us more than we bargained for. Commuters who were told Tuesday to plan on having an afternoon headache yesterday actually woke up with an unexpectedly slushy migraine. "It took an hour-and-a-half for me to get from Northeast Philly to Center City," said Tim Chandler, a building maintenance worker who was stunned at how bad the roads were near his house. Forecasters initially predicted minimal snowfall for yesterday morning, with no accumulation expected until at least the late afternoon.

Last night's scheduled AHL game between the Phantoms and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton at the Wachovia Spectrum was postponed until March 16 at 7:05 p.m. Hazardous driving conditions in Northeastern Pennsylvania made it impossible for the Penguins to get to Philadelphia. All tickets for last night's game will be honored on March 16. The Phantoms are 28-14-5-1 and in second place in the AHL East behind Bridgeport. Goalie Antero Niittymaki was named the Phantoms player of the month for January.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - On the orders of Sen. John McCain, the organizers of the Republican National Convention announced yesterday that they were scaling back the proceedings dramatically in deference to Hurricane Gustav. Today's opening session was to have included speeches by President Bush and Vice President Cheney, among others. Instead, there will be no political rhetoric of any kind, only an abbreviated meeting to conduct business required by party rules. What happens beyond today, organizers said, depends on how much damage the storm does to the Gulf Coast.

Radical's latest offering is quite a wild "Ryde. " Indeed, "Ryder on the Storm" is the type of book that changes direction constantly and has more layers than an onion. Just when you feel you have the story and players figured out, everything gets turned upside down. Indeed, the first issue has a whopping 52 pages of story and writer David Hine expertly makes use of every one of them. The result is a horror story worthy of Steve Niles , a crime story worthy of Christos Gage and dialogue worthy of Brian Michael Bendis . There is also a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a riddle.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano toured hard-hit neighborhoods of Alabama and Mississippi on Sunday to offer condolences and pledge support for local residents and emergency workers. She met briefly with two sisters whose home was destroyed by last week's storms in Birmingham. Stephanie Anderson and Sheila Hurd were collecting clothes strewn across the street from the debris that was their mother's home. Anderson thanked Napolitano for coming to the area and told her that she appreciated the efforts of everyone who has responded, including the rescue workers who recovered her mother's remains.

George Washington may have been able to move a ragtag revolutionary army across snow-covered fields and a wintry Delaware River, but the city that bears his name couldn't get to work yesterday. A second snowstorm in less than a week blanketed the nation's capital, paralyzing the transportation network and causing as many as 300,000 federal workers to stay home for extended weekends. The storm had swept up the East Coast, causing traffic problems and school closings from North Carolina to Massachusetts.