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The economy of course is always looking for indicators that things are finally turning around. and the holiday shopping season was supposed to be one of those indicators. and then the blizzard of 2010 came. so did retailers have a white christmas? or were they buried by it? here s chris bury. reporter: the blizzard slowed but could not stop the post-holiday retail ritual. in new york, the intrepid rode subways to ring the registers at queens mall. it was worth it, yeah, definitely. who doesn t love snow? as long as the credit card s swiping we re in business. reporter: nationwide, holiday sales are on track to be the strongest in three years. up 5.5% over 2009. you ve got to assume when they dig out the next day or two, that post-christmas demand will return. reporter: the blizzard spared the middle of the country so here at woodfield mall outside chicago, among 10,288 parking spaces, you couldn t find an empty one. what s bringing those crowds to malls like this? bou ....
Her home in westbury. it beat her experience last night, when she bedded down in a rail car full of strangers on a track beneath penn station. most people slept. i m afraid because i was alone, by the couples they just cuddled up and slept. those in new jersey, they re not fighting the flames or the elements, they are simply fighting the snow. they were clobbered with some of the biggest snow totals in our area. in elizabeth, 32 1/2 inches. digging out there is a massive undertaking. nina pineda is there tonight. reporter: liz, you can hear the fatigue in the voice of the police captain from elizabeth who took us for a ride in his suv. they ve been trying to dig out for the second night in a row. this is what s making it so hard. there s nowhere for all the snow to go. 10, 12-foot-high piles on every sidewalk and every corner. you don t have to ride far just to see really what they re up against. as you can see ahead of us, this car just can t make it. he needs a little runni ....
Flexibility. reporter: 20 inches of snow fell in central park. thought more streets would actually be cleared, some of the side streets. then when i came out here i realized how bad it was. reporter: heavy accumulation and strong winds have crippled travel across the entire region. 2 1/2 feet fell in elizabeth, new jersey. carrie was one of 60 motorists stranded overnight on new jersey s route 280. we could see the whole open highway in front of us. and can t understand why they can t get a plow. reporter: also trapped, nearly 500 passengers on four unheated subway cars stalled in snowdrifts near kennedy airport. the riders were stranded from 1:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. not going nowhere. not one damn train. no heat. reporter: amtrak has restored service between new york and boston. incredibly, new york city mayor michael bloomberg said the biggest cost to the city would not be snow removal, but the loss of sales tax revenue from all those post-christmas sales that folks here ....
In addition to all that wet weather out west, look at up to 3 feet of snow in the cascades and the sierra range. the rockies will see about a foot of snow from northern utah to montana. showers around dallas. and a bit milder in the midwest. 29 in the twin cities. 28 in chicago. 38 in kansas city. mostly 30s in the northeast. a wet 45 in seattle. 42 in salt lake city. 51 in sacramento. this morning the state department confirms one of the possible targets of a terror plot in britain was the u.s. embassy in london. nine suspects were rounded up in a raid last week and appeared in court yesterday. the bbc s jon brain has more. reporter: the nine men were brought to westminster magistrates court after a week of questioning by counterterrorism officers. the two suspects arrested in london were the first to appear in the dock. followed by three men from cardiff and four from stoke-on-trent. they spoke only to confirm their names, ages and addresses. the men were seized in coordinated ....
Snowsuits, his regular clothes, two blankets, bundled up against us trying to keep him warm. reporter: those who tried to fly away from the storm ended up sleeping at the airport. more than 5,000 flights across the country canceled. this man told us he is desperate to get to an event his wedding. hopefully i ll make it by day after tomorrow. reporter: new york s three airports are now partially open but there are still hundreds of cancelations and delays. if you re headed to an airport, the best bet, call ahead and pack your patience. sharyn alfonsi, abc news, new york. mountains of snow will be around awhile. the 2010 blizzard is forcing a rare event for the nfl. ....