Storm

The region might have missed the mighty Blizzard of 2013, but it could not escape its fallout. At Philadelphia International Airport, about 260 arriving or departing flights were canceled Friday, according to FlightStats.com, and arriving flights were delayed an hour, an airport spokeswoman said. That was the result of the coastal storm that threatened to bury parts of moisture-starved New England under two-plus feet of snow in what meteorologists were calling a potentially "historic" storm.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. - New Englanders began the back-breaking job of digging out from as much as 3 feet of snow Saturday, and emergency crews used snowmobiles to reach shivering motorists stranded overnight on New York's Long Island after a howling storm swept through the Northeast. About 650,000 homes and businesses were left without electricity, and some could be cold and dark for days. Roads across the New York-to-Boston corridor of roughly 25 million people were impassable. Cars were entombed by drifts.

Less than two days after a major blizzard pounded the Northeast with up to three feet of snow, travel operations are beginning to go back to normal, at least in Philadelphia. Aside from a few canceled flight to Boston Sunday, Philadelphia International Airport is running smoothly. "We have no delays," said airport spokeswoman Victoria Lupica. Most of Amtrak's operations are also running on-time, except for a limited train schedule for those traveling north of New York. Amtrak's limited schedule and other service alerts may be found at http://www.amtrak.com/service-alerts-and-notices . Airport travelers may also call 1-800-PHL-GATE (1-800-745-4283)

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.

Getting in and out of Philadelphia moved closer to normal Saturday as the region was spared the worst of a storm that pummeled the Northeast. Air travel anywhere north of New York remained difficult, with Boston's Logan International Airport closed until at least 11 p.m. Saturday. Major airports in New York were up and running Saturday afternoon, but it could take airlines a few days to resolve thousands of cancelled flights. The upheaval stranded 32 travelers at Philadelphia International Airport overnight Friday.

There is simply too much "piggybacking" around the trough of New Jersey's multibillion-dollar effort to recover from Superstorm Sandy. Gov. Christie awarded a no-bid contract to a politically connected firm to clean up the wreckage in Sandy's wake. He defended it by saying he "piggybacked" onto a competitively bid $100 million contract between the firm AshBritt Inc. and Connecticut, adopting the same terms. Beyond the deal with New Jersey, the contract is worth millions more from hurricane-ravaged towns that can themselves piggyback onto the piggybacked contract - meaning they don't have to competitively bid the work, either.

The Paul VI boys' basketball team outscored Egg Harbor Township by 17 points in the second half on the way to a 50-36 victory in the Olympic-Cape Challenge at St. Augustine on Saturday night. Jay Howard led Paul VI with 19 points, and DeVahnte Mosley added 16. Khari Harley led Egg Harbor with 13, and Trey Jones had nine. Before Paul VI's comeback, Egg Harbor led by three points. In other Olympic-Cape Challenge action: Rob Brosh scored a game-high 15 points as Camden Catholic earned a 41-34 win over Middle Township.

The region might have missed the mighty Blizzard of 2013, but it could not escape the fallout. At Philadelphia International Airport, about 260 arriving or departing flights were canceled Friday, according to FlightStats.com, and arriving flights were delayed an hour, an airport spokeswoman said. That was the result of the coastal storm that threatened to bury parts of snow-starved New England under 2-plus feet of snow in what meteorologists were calling a potentially "historic" storm.

After weathering more than its share of budget storms, the National Weather Service is turning to one of the nation's premier storm experts to become its new leader. Louis W. Uccellini will become the weather service's director, effective Sunday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, its parent agency, announced Thursday. The appointment was welcomed by members of the forecasters' union, the National Weather Service Employees Organization, who have had a sometimes fractious relationship with the bosses.