BUFFALO, N.Y. – Hoods were up and heads were down as a storm that plagued the Midwest for days plodded into the Northeast on Tuesday with knifing winds and blowing snow, stranding dozens of motorists on a southern Ontario highway and giving much of the region its first real taste of winter. The storm, with its bone-chilling cold, continued its trek over the Great Lakes and into Canada.
More snow was in the cards or already falling Tuesday in parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. The frigid air stretched into the deep South, where hard freeze warnings were in effect overnight in much of Florida. Hundreds of schools were closed or opening late. Canadian officials said about 150 of the estimated 300 people trapped in their vehicles on Highway 402 near Sarnia, Ontario, had been rescued, as many as a dozen by military helicopters. Many people are staying with their vehicles. Sarnia is about 65 miles northeast of Detroit. Ontario Community Safety Minister Jim Bradley said he had no reports of deaths or injuries among the stranded. In northern Ohio, the wintry blast created risky driving conditions and pushed some university exams to Christmas week. Commuters walking on snow-encrusted sidewalks clutched hats and tugged scarves tightly against the windy onslaught in Cleveland, where as much as 9 more inches could fall before a storm warning expires Wednesday morning. Up to 2 feet of snow has already fallen in parts of the snow belt east of the city. Buffalo is used to getting thumped by lake effect storms coming off Lake Erie. Felix Puyarena rode his bike about a mile over cleared streets to get to the train station. The native of Puerto Rico has lived in Buffalo 10 years and knows the keys to surviving winter: Hat, sunglasses, hood and a scarf that covered his face entirely. "I've got everything," he said. "I'm good." Helicopters were being used on Florida's valuable and sensitive vegetable crops, an unusual approach by farmers worried that an uncommon freeze could wipe out their harvests. The choppers hove
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