ASHEVILLE – Karen Tessier, an Asheville public relations executive who was in New York for a series of tourism-related conferences scheduled this week, was among people Monday scrambling to get out of the path of a blizzard forecasters say could reach “historic” proportions.
Tessier and three other people in her Asheville group boarded a New York-to-Washington Amtrak train at 6:15 a.m. Monday as snow was already falling, abandoning a Thursday return air flight they had already purchased.
“We knew we needed to get out of there before noon,” Tessier said. “We felt we would get trapped in a hotel room for several days. Our meetings were canceled, so it made no sense for us to stay.”
The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for a 250-mile swath of the Northeast, from New Jersey to Maine, with heavy, blowing snow and potential whiteout conditions expected. Up to 3 feet of snow could fall on some areas. The brunt of the storm was expected Monday evening and into Tuesday.
After taking the train to Washington, Tessier’s group planned to rent a car and travel to Charlotte to pick up a vehicle they had left at the airport there, then drive back to Asheville.
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“Once we get south of that Mason Dixon line, we’ll be fine,” Tessier said by cellphone as she traveled Monday. “I’ll just be glad to get home. I have to commend New Yorkers. They were not freaking out, but they were taking it very seriously.”
As of late Monday, more than 7,500 flights were canceled through Wednesday, according to USA Today.
No flights arriving or departing from Asheville Regional Airport were affected Monday, airport spokeswoman Tina Kinsey said.
“We haven’t seen anything canceled or delayed yet,” she said. “There’s always the possibility of a weather trickle-down effect.”
Flights sometimes are affected in Asheville because of weather problems in other parts of the country. Passengers should keep tabs on their flight through their air carrier, Kinsey said
“There could be a domino effect, but it’s hard to predict,” Kinsey said. “Passengers really need to focus on their full itinerary. That information is readily available on their individual airline’s website.”
About half of all flights out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport were called off Monday, and about 60 percent of flights heading into the airport were scratched. Boston’s Logan Airport said there would be no flights after 7 p.m. Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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