Holiday Storm Dumps Snow on Northeast

Dec. 27, 2012— -- The powerful winter storm that pounded the Midwest is expected is drop more than a foot of snow on some parts of the Northeast, bringing more travel plans to a screeching halt with high winds, snow and sleet.

The system, which spawned Gulf Coast region tornadoes on Christmas Day has already dropped more than 9 inches on Buffalo, N.Y., as it continues to churn north and move out to sea later today.

Northern Connecticut residents are waking up to 6 inches while those in western Massachusetts have more than 6.5 inches already on the ground.

The National Weather Service says the Northeast's heaviest snow accumulations will be in northern Pennsylvania, upstate New York and inland sections of several New England states.

More than 150,000 customers from Texas to Maine were without power as of 5:30 a.m. ET. More than 130,000 of those power outages have been reported in Arkansas.

This storm is also bringing strong wind gusts to the Northeast. A wind gust of 74 mph was recorded in Ocean County, N.J., early this morning.

The system was expected to taper off to a mix of rain and snow closer to the coast, where little or no accumulation was expected in such cities as Philadelphia, Boston and New York.

Schools on break and workers taking holiday vacations meant that many people could avoid messy commutes, but those who had to travel were implored to avoid it.

Six people have died, mostly in weather-related car crashes. Thirteen states remain under winter storm warnings, blizzard warnings and advisories, down from 18 during the height of the storm.

More than 350 flights nationwide have already been canceled today, down from the 1,777 flights that were canceled yesterday, according to FlightAware.com.

The majority of the cancellations are in the Northeast, which is experiencing the brunt of the storm as it moves out to sea.

That frustration is even boiling over into the cockpit. One American Airlines pilot was clearly fed up after waiting for five hours to take off from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Tuesday.

"It's beyond reproach. I have no words to tell you how sorry I am for all of this. Decisions are being made way above our heads by people that obviously, in my humble opinion, don't have a clue what they're doing," the pilot said to passengers on the plane.

Passengers on that plane told ABC News affiliate WFAA that the flight never left the gate on its trip to Las Vegas.

While the storm wreaks havoc on the Northeast, Indianapolis beings the tough task of digging itself out from underneath the blizzard that brought six to 12 inches of snow in some areas. The 7.5 inches that fell in Indianapolis was the most in four years.

"It's pretty bad. You get a lot of drifting out there. That's what's killing us, mainly," David White, a snow plow driver, told ABC News affiliate WRTV Wednesday.

The Indiana Pacers cancelled their home game against Chicago Bulls due to the weather conditions. No date was announced for a makeup game.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.