U.S. government workers were told to stay home again Wednesday after a powerful winter storm swept up the East Coast, dumping snow, paralyzing traffic, and leaving at least five people dead.

The storm moved toward Maine early Wednesday and was expected to drop fresh snow on Pennsylvania and New England, a day after the governors of Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina declared states of emergency in hard-hit areas.

Washington's Ronald Reagan National Airport, New York's LaGuardia and Boston's Logan Airport, among others, were closed Tuesday.

In the Carolinas, nearly a quarter of a million customers were without power because of downed electrical lines.

Neighborhood roads (vicinity of Manassas) are plowed, driveways are shoveled, the sun is shining, and no power outages that I know of. Not bad for 24 hours later.

The parking lot was not touched by any plowers, and I was a human snow-plow this morning at 6am, digging our car out of more than a foot of snow...It would've been fun if I'd had more than four and a half hours of sleep and had the day off...Riverdale, PG County, MD

I came out this morning to start my car for work. During the night, crews had to clear the drive through area for our apartment complex (never minding the parking spaces). Coupled with the few feet of snow already in front of my car, the crew that plowed the area dumped a few more feet of snow in front of my car. I did not have a snow shovel, so I started out with a dustpan! While I'm digging through this mound of snow, I'm hoping within myself that one of my neighbors would have mercy upon me and offer their help. Before too long, here comes a kindly gentleman with snow shovel in hand walking towards me. Not knowing if he would approach me to offer help, or keep walking by, I dared not look at him. But to my surprise he was headed directly towards me. He offered his help to shovel out my car which only has a back wheel drive. I gathered my things and then safely and easily headed off to work. I thank this young man for all of his help.

Up here just north of downtown Silver Spring just of Colesville Road and it looks like we've got 10-12 inches. It is hard to tell with all the blowing.

I tried making it in yesterday from Woodbridge aka SNOWBRIDGE but because the VRE was probably going to cancel afternoon runs...I didn't want to get stuck in DC so I turned around and went home only to get stuck getting up the driveway. Spent the day baking cookies! Came in this morning and drove because VRE was on a holiday schedule and HOV was open...GREAT...clean and clear...GREAT JOB DOT of Virginia!!! However, when I got to DC I discovered I needed skis for my car. DC was shut down yesterday why couldn't they clean the streets? Hoepefully when I leave today I won't get stuck! On top of all this...my scheduled flight to Florida was cancelled today due to the snow in Raliegh-Durham...oh well, there is always next month!

It's HORRIBLE! I live off of Briggs Chaney Rd. near Route 29 and it took me 30 minutes to dig out my car! It didn't help that I was parked on a hill! One side of my car was buried in a two-foot snowdrift, so I had to crawl in on the other side to pop my trunk and get my snow utensils. Once I got the car out of the space, I got stuck in the middle of my driveway and blocked the passage of cars behind me! The first driver was nice enough to dig around my tires and push me up the hill enough to get out! Once I got on Route 29 heading South and onto the Beltway, my commute was fine. I think the hardest part for everyone will be getting out of their own parking lot/driveway. The main roads are good.

I went to the Huntington Metro station at 7:30 AM. No trains arrived. They kept announcing for 45 minutes that the train was leaving the Braddock Road Station. After 45 minutes, one inbound train arrived with several people. They made the announcement that it would not take any outbound passengers, because it had "Mechanical Problems" After dropping off the passengers, it took off like a bat out of hell. Obviously the train was in good mechanical order. Then after the problem train had left, it was announced that the train was still departing Braddock Road. Obviously there was no train leaving Braddock Road. When can we count on Metro to provide service during inclement weather and be honest. At 8:15 I drove to work.

When it is snowing like this, it is an excellent time to get out and help your neighbors. We went and shoveled some of our neighborhood widows' driveways. People wonder if they owe you something! It's good exercise, is a great service, and helps make our communities closer.

Today my woodstove has done triple-duty. Not only has it kept us toasty warm it has acted as my cookstove. A pot of homemade vegetable soup has simmered on top the woodstove all day - the smell alone could make one weep for joy. To the side of the stove is a large screen over which are hung the children's coats and mittens - the woodstove acting as dryer for all the wet clothes that the children have generated throughout the day. [Don't worry - the clothes are a safe distance from the stove.] Hot chocolate has awaited the children when they came in from play and my exhausted dog is asleep at my feet, worn out from romping in the snow with the kids.
We've got food, heat, shelter, each other. What more is there???

Here again in Rowan County, NC we had 4" last night on top of the past three
storms. Right now it's 29 degrees and a steady 10-20mph wind. I finally
plowed my driveway and now I've got black ice and snow blowing across it. In
our county the depth ranged from a dusting to 8". We've had about 14" total
since last Monday. I just heard that the official total for Raleigh was
20.2". That's the most since 1902. This was a totally unpredicted storm. One
weatherman in Charlotte said they missed because they were still busy with
the weekend storm, yeah right. I also heard that the gov't started up a new
computer this past week but, they didn't have all the software in it yet,
gimme a break.

At least nine people have died in a rare snowstorm that has paralyzed traffic and cut electricity in many parts of the Middle East.
In Israel's Negev desert, snow fell Friday for the first time in half a century.

A winter storm that dumped as much as 18 inches of snow in parts of Arkansas and Mississippi continued its eastward trek, with snow falling in Alabama and moving into Georgia. Sleet was already falling Friday evening as far south as Valdosta, Georgia, near the Florida border.

Heading to sunny Florida the week of the 5th! Looks a lot warmer than Maine! Too bad can't stay longer than a week! Snow. We laugh at snow!