BUFFALO, N.Y. — A lake-effect snowstorm dumped up to 4 feet of snow along a stretch of the New York State Thruway on Tuesday, forcing about 150 motorists, including a women’s basketball team, to ride out the storm in their vehicles on a day when temperatures fell to freezing or below in all 50 states.
A state official said cars, trucks and buses stranded on a 4-mile section near Buffalo were expected to be freed by 10 p.m. Tuesday after the paralyzing ordeal that lasted nearly 24 hours for some motorists.
“It seemed like a nightmare. It just didn’t feel like it was going to end,” Bryce Foreback, 23, of Shicora, Pennsylvania, told The Associated Press by cellphone 20 hours into his wait for help. “I haven’t slept in like 30 hours and I’m just waiting to get out of here.”
Members of the Niagara University women’s basketball team were napping on and off 17 hours into their wait. Some got so thirsty they drank melted snow, said Coach Kenra Faustin, who was traveling with her 1-year-old.
Team spokeswoman Chelsea Andorka said the bus, with about 25 players and coaches aboard, was headed back from a loss in Pittsburgh when it came to a halt at 2 a.m. Tuesday.
“We were told the National Guard was coming by but haven’t seen any signs of life,” Andorka said. “The first time they came they told us to be prepared to stay for a while. One tow truck passed six or seven hours ago.”
In a region accustomed to highway-choking snowstorms, this one is being called one of the worst in memory. Snow blown by strong winds forced the closing of a 132-mile stretch of the Thruway, the main highway across New York state.
Meteorologists said temperatures in all 50 states fell to freezing or below on Tuesday. They say the low temperatures were more reminiscent of January than November.
In New Hampshire and elsewhere, icy roads led to accidents. Lake-effect storms in Michigan produced gale-force winds and as much as 18 inches of snow, and canceled several flights at the Grand Rapids airport.
Schools closed in the North Carolina mountains amid blustery winds and ice-coated roads. In Indiana, three firefighters were hurt when a semitrailer hit a fire truck on a snowy highway.
In Atlanta, tourists Morten and Annette Larsen from Copenhagen were caught off-guard by the 30-degree weather as they took photos of a monument to the 1996 summer Olympics at Centennial Olympic Park.
“It’s as cold here as it is in Denmark right now. We didn’t expect that,” Larsen said, waving a hand over his denim jacket, buttoned tightly over a hooded sweatshirt.
In Buffalo, Brian Krzeminski watched the snow pile up outside the south Buffalo convenience store where he worked overnight and served free coffee to the motorists and pedestrians who came in off the city streets to get out of the blinding snow.
The National Weather Service warned the snow, generated by cold air blowing over the warmer Great Lakes, would continue through today and could eventually total 6 feet in places.
