Seats at premium on planes, trains out of D.C

Travelers try to get out of city before more snow falls on Tuesday

WASHINGTON - A $20 cab ride to the airport skyrocketed to the "snow rate" of $100 in the nation's capital, and those travelers who could get to the airport or train station still had to haggle or wait in long lines to escape the snowbound Mid-Atlantic.

The most pressing matter: get out before another foot or more of the white stuff comes Tuesday. Ahead of the storm, officials announced the federal government would be closed for a second day in a row. On Monday. some 230,000 federal workers in Washington had the day off. Power was still out for tens of thousands of homes and businesses.

"I'm done with city, urban snow life," said Chris Vaughan, a Washington resident who was able to re-book a flight to go skiing in Utah. He dodged the pricey cab fare by having a friend drop him off at the airport — in exchange for a bottle of wine. The region was still trying to dig out after being buried under nearly 3 feet of snow in some areas. One scientist said if all the snow that fell on the East Coast were melted, it would fill 12 million Olympic swimming pools or 30,000 Empire State buildings. Philadelphia needed just a little more than nine inches to make it the snowiest winter since 1884, the first year records were kept.

Forecasters predicted the snow would start Tuesday afternoon and continue into Wednesday. Airlines warned travelers more flights would be canceled and the new storm was expected to hit a wider area, affecting travel in New York and Boston.

Sharon Lewis of Bowie, Md., was desperate to spend time with family in Trinidad. She bargained for an hour and got a flight to New York's Laguardia Airport. But it came with caveat, she would then would have to drive across town in rush hour traffic to make a connecting flight at John F. Kennedy airport within an hour.

"I don't know how that's going to happen," she said. "It'll be a disaster.".