Fresh snow falls in U.S. Northeast

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INDIANAPOLIS, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- Parts of the Midwest were reporting 4-5 inches of new snow Saturday as a hefty winter storm headed toward the U.S. East Coast, forecasters said.

The storm was blamed for at least 10 deaths nationwide this week.

Flightstats.com said more than U.S. 400 flights were canceled and about 5,000 had been delayed Saturday. More than 110 of the cancellations were at Newark Liberty International, about 80 were at New York's La Guardia Airport and almost 60 were at JFK International Airport.

WMUR-TV, Manchester, N.H., reported several people were injured in a chain-reaction crash involving an estimated 20 vehicles amid snow and freezing temperatures on Interstate 93 in New Hampton Saturday.

New York state highway officials said several highways were closed across the state because of snow-related collisions.

Accuweather.com said the heaviest snowband at 5 p.m. EST Saturday extended from Oxford and Hartford, Conn., to Worcester and Bedford, Mass.

Holly, Vt., had 7 inches of snow by late Saturday afternoon, while Pittsford, Vt., had 6.5 inches, and Killington had 6.1 inches.

AccuWeather said 5.1 inches was on the ground in the Indianapolis suburbs and Columbus, Ohio, checked in with 4 inches. New York and Pittsburgh were expecting at least a couple of inches Saturday.

"It will keep the ski resorts happy and they won't waste money making snow," said John Goff, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service office in Burlington, Vt., told CNN.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said a survey of the lower 48 states found snow covered 64 percent of the total area -- a degree of coverage meteorologists told CNN was not seen last winter until February.

"Our current snow cover is not anything unusual," AccuWeather's Jack Boston said. "It was just way less than normal last winter."