By Ellen Wulfhorst
NEW YORK, Feb 3 (Reuters) - Weather-forecasting groundhog Punxsutawney Phil was proven right on Monday as a winter storm swept across the Northeastern United States and brought an all-too-familiar bout of travel woes.
Travelers leaving the New York City area after Sunday's Super Bowl championship football game faced snarls at the region's airports and risky driving conditions on the roads.
The brunt of the flight delays and cancellations was borne by Newark Liberty International Airport, the closest to the stadium where the Denver Broncos fell to the Seattle Seahawks 43-8 in Sunday's National Football League matchup.
Newark had 58 flights canceled on Monday morning, according to Flightaware.com, an online site that tracks air traffic.
Delays of several hours also affected flights at New York's LaGuardia Airport and John F. Kennedy International Airport. The small Teterboro Airport near the football stadium in New Jersey, which handles private jets, also had delays, Flightaware.com said.
Across the United States, 1,048 flights were canceled, it said.
Driving conditions were hazardous along the Interstate 95 corridor from Washington, D.C., north to Boston, meteorologists said.
The storm blew in after dumping several inches of snow in the Ohio Valley on Sunday, the day famed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil emerged from his burrow in Pennsylvania, saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter.
The storm was named Maximus, the 13th named storm of the season, according to Weather.com.
More wintry weather lies in its wake, said Weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce.
"By Monday evening, the snow will end as Maximus moves out to sea," he said. "After that, we'll turn our attention to the next winter storm, Nika, which will affect a large swath of the central and eastern states Tuesday and Wednesday."
The National Weather Service said Monday's storm could bring "significant snowfall" from eastern Kentucky to eastern New York of four to eight inches.
Winter storm warnings were issued by the National Weather Service on Monday for southeastern Colorado, southeastern Kansas, northwestern Missouri, southwestern Ohio, northern Kentucky, western Pennsylvania, east central Ohio, western Maryland, central Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and New York City and its surrounding areas. (Reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by Peter Galloway)
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