CONWAY, Massachusetts | Thu Jan 31, 2013 1:44pm EST

CONWAY, Massachusetts (Reuters) - Rain and high winds lashed U.S. Northeast and mid-Atlantic states early on Thursday, knocking out power to more than 330,000 homes and businesses as they braced for a coming snowstorm.

Gusty winds of up to 77 miles per hour battered parts of New England and a high-wind advisory remains in effect until 6 p.m. for northern Connecticut, most of Massachusetts, and southern New Hampshire, the National Weather Service said.

Thunderstorms rolled across the Northeast early on Thursday morning, toppling trees and downing utility lines. Among the hardest hit areas were Connecticut, where about 71,000 customers had no electricity; Long Island, with about 34,000 customers out; and New Jersey, where about 27,000 customers were without power, according to utility reports.

Heavy rainfall caused several dams in Carroll County, Virginia, to overflow after "river flow increased a multiple of 10 times in just 12 hours," said a statement released by Appalachian Power.

The state of Vermont warned residents on Thursday to brace for flash flooding from the storm, with heavy rains causing ice jams in rivers. Residents of low-lying areas were advised to seek higher ground immediately if water began to rise on local rivers.

Raging winds tore the roof off of an elementary school in Fall River, Massachusetts, sending bricks and other debris crashing to the street below, local media reported. A large section of the roof of another elementary school, this one in Raynham, south of Boston, also was blown off, with some debris landing across the street. No one was reported injured.

Early morning bursts of wind and rain also caused traffic accidents. In Centerville, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, a teenage girl crossing the street to board a school bus was seriously injured after being hit by a car in what police called a weather-related crash, local media said. In Boston, a toppled tree fell on an ambulance on its way to pick up a patient. No injuries were reported.

From Friday through the weekend, a series of storms threatens to dump snow from the Midwest to New England and the mid-Atlantic, according to meteorologist Alex Sosnowski on Accuweather.com. Slick conditions could snarl the Friday morning commute to Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, he said.

(Additional reporting by Scott DiSavino; Writing by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Bob Burgdorfer)

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A Christmas wreath is covered with snow on West 4th Street in Waterloo, Iowa, December 20, 2012.

BUFFALO, New York | Sat Dec 22, 2012 4:56pm EST

BUFFALO, New York (Reuters) - Powerful winds and snow whipped parts of the eastern United States on Saturday, carrying the promise of a white Christmas while threatening to cause problems for the many Americans traveling for the holidays, meteorologists said.

The storm moving in from the Midwest was sending strong winds into the mid-Atlantic states and southern New England. It buried parts of Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin in more than a foot of snow earlier this week.

The high winds threatened to delay flights at busy airports in New York, Philadelphia and Washington, meteorologists said.

Due to the winds, departing flights were delayed at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and at Washington Dulles International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

More than 87 million Americans are expected to travel 50 miles or more away from home over the holidays, the travel and auto group AAA has forecast. Nearly nine out of 10 will be on the roads, it said.

Residents in and around Buffalo, New York, awoke on Saturday to 4 to 6 inches of snow - the season's first significant accumulation in the notoriously snowbound region.

Typically, the area would have roughly a foot of snow by the Christmas holidays, but there has been little or nothing this year.

"There was something missing," Mayor Rob Ortt of North Tonawanda, New York, just north of Buffalo, said of judging the city's holiday lighting contest in the past week. "I think this was the first year there was no snow, not even a dusting."

"Everyone thinks of us as a place where snow is, and you relish it at Christmas time," he said, adding, "When we have snow around St. Patrick's Day, that's when people get annoyed."

The National Weather Service predicted a few more inches of snow for the Buffalo region on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

A new storm could bring snow as well to the central Appalachians, northern mid-Atlantic and southern New England on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, Accuweather.com said.

Residents of Harrisburg and Scranton, Pennsylvania eastward to Hartford, Connecticut, and Boston could expect a white Christmas, it said.

"It could be a white Christmas after all in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, New England and other areas across the nation," said Alex Sosnowski, Accuweather senior meteorologist.

New York City is likely to see a mix of snow and rain, he said.

RELIEF FOR SKI RESORT OPERATORS

Several inches of snow fell on Saturday in parts of western Pennsylvania. In central New York, snowfall of up to an inch an hour at times was predicted by the National Weather Service.

Ski resort operators in western New York greeted the snow with relief and said the cold air was making conditions ideal for snowmaking.

"It hurts not to be open yet," said Andy Minier, ski racing coordinator at Kissing Bridge ski area, about 30 miles south of Buffalo.

On Saturday, high winds were buffeting the New York City metropolitan area, eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and New Jersey, the National Weather Service said.

It predicted hazardous conditions due to winds for upstate New York, northwestern Connecticut, southern Vermont and western Massachusetts.

Wintry air blowing off the eastern Great Lakes was causing icy conditions in western and northern Pennsylvania, upstate New York and West Virginia as well, Accuweather said.

On the Gulf Coast, meteorologists say, dangerous thunderstorms and tornadoes are expected on Christmas Day.

The affected areas are likely to be southeastern Texas, central and southern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, Accuweather said. Cities in those areas include Houston; Baton Rouge and New Orleans in Louisiana; Gulfport, Mississippi; Montgomery and Mobile in Alabama; and Pensacola, Florida; it said.

(Additional Reporting and writing by Ellen Wulfhorst, Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

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