CLEVELAND — A dangerous winter storm that could persist until midweek pummeled northern Ohio on Monday with snow and blew strong winds across Lake Erie that made the temperature feel like zero degrees.
Winds gusting to 45 mph made accumulations uneven, but some areas received 6 inches of new snow, causing hazardous driving conditions and scattered airline delays.
The National Weather Service said parts of northeast Ohio could receive 2 feet or more of additional snow by Tuesday night.
Kevin McMickens, 48, a cabbie waiting for a fare in Cleveland, said road conditions had doubled the time to the airport to 30 minutes. He thought highways were decent and he was more worried about other drivers.
"Some of them think it's like one of those days that it's nice and warm and the road is clear," he said. His message to them: "Slow down and take your time."
The blast meant an extended weekend for students at hundreds of schools across the region. Some students have used their allotment of three snow days and any more time off must be made up.
That's the situation in which Crestwood schools northeast of Akron found themselves: no more available under a new state law that trimmed "calamity days" from five to three.
"Today is Crestwood's third calamity day. Any calamity days beyond three must be made up," the district warned parents and students in a message on its website.
The Madison school district northeast of Cleveland used its second "calamity" day Monday, and Superintendent Roger Goudy said the reduced limit isn't realistic in snow-prone northeast Ohio.
"This is ridiculous," he said in a phone interview. "In northeast Ohio, we're going to have snow and we're going to have cold and we're going to have wind chill."
The State Highway Patrol said a pair of weather-related crashes killed three people on Sunday. One wreck was in northeast Ohio's Ashtabula County, the other was in central Ohio's Licking County.
Painesville, located along the Interstate 90 snow belt northeast of Cleveland, caught a break: bands of snow off Lake Erie blew east and west of the city, sparing the city of the worst.
"If you look at the radar, everything is going around us at this time," said Public Service Director Kevin Lynch, who had eight plow crews out. "It's blowing over and re-drifting as it goes."
Winter-hardy Cleveland, stung last week by a gridlock-producing storm heading into the evening rush hour, declared a parking ban to keep streets clear for police and fire equipment.
To avoid a gridlock repeat, Cleveland sent "nonessential" municipal employees home early and asked other downtown employers do likewise on a staggered basis, with government workers out first.
Associated Press writer Doug Whiteman in Columbus contributed to this report