Blizzard making its way toward US east coast

Snow kept on falling in the Midwest Saturday after buffeting the Chicago region overnight with the East Coast next in line, forecasters said. The storm chugged along the southern shore of the Great Lakes and was expected to impact more than 110 million people as it moved into the Northeastern United States, AccuWeather said. Snow was expected to complicate a major Christmas shopping weekend in a wide swath from St. Louis to Boston and New York City. Air travel was also being impacted Saturday at major airports in Chicago and New York, the Federal Aviation Administration reported. Transportation officials in New England had their snowplow drivers ready for the storm's arrival. "We are ramping up here," said Connecticut Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Nursick said. About one-third of the state's fleet of 630 plows was already on the road before noon EST in anticipation of a long night of blowing snow and treacherous travel. "We typically deploy geographically to meet the storm, so if the storm's rolling in east to west, we deploy east to west, so there's no wasted effort," Nursick told the Hartford (Conn.) Courant. Chicagoland remain on alert Saturday for additional accumulations after a blustery Friday night. "Our Snow Operations Center is ready with the resources needed to stay on top of anticipated snowfall and windy conditions," Kristi Lafleur, executive director of the Illinois Tollway told WMAQ-TV, Chicago. "Blowing snow may reduce visibility at times, so we are asking our customers to please slow down and drive defensively."