Great Lakes Snowstorm Blankets Northeast and Midwest, Stranding Motorists

The lake-effect storm disrupted holiday travel across the region, trapping dozens of vehicles on highways. Some areas could get up to six feet of snow by Tuesday.

Kimberly Stolar was glad to be off the roads in Erie, Pa., on Saturday. Not that she had much choice: She couldn’t open her front door, no matter how hard she pushed against an estimated 50 inches of snow that had drifted over. She knew her S.U.V. was somewhere in her driveway, but she couldn’t tell exactly where.

“I’m just trying today to ignore the fact that I can’t get out of my house, and just be thankful for what I have in my house,” said Ms. Stolar, 33, an Erie native who said this storm was the worst that she could recall.

More than two feet of snow blanketed western New York and Pennsylvania on Saturday, with some parts getting more than three feet, as a lake-effect snowstorm disrupted post-Thanksgiving travel and stranded dozens of vehicles on highways. The storm threatened to bring up to six feet of snow to some areas by Tuesday morning.

The snowfall was heaviest along Interstate 90, the National Weather Service said, which hugs Lake Erie from Buffalo through Pennsylvania and on to Cleveland. Erie and parts of northern Michigan, eastern Ohio and western New York received around 30 inches of snow or more, the service said Saturday. National Guard troops were dispatched in New York and Pennsylvania.

Some of the most dramatic scenes of the storm were out of Erie. Its normally lively downtown was deserted, as fast-falling snow trapped residents inside their homes. Motorists barred from Interstate 90 wound up stranded on two-lane highways, and truck owners towed cars out of ditches. Temporary shelters were set up for travelers who were stuck, where a few hundred people took refuge, according to Brenton Davis, the executive of Erie County, Pa.