even leaky faucets. given the brutal winter so far, preps for the monster storm started early this week. we found spikes for snow rakes and heavy duty snowblowers up 600%. and while they waited for the weather to calm, many folks made the best of it by staying home and cooking up some comfort food. in detroit a number of folks wanted recipes for no bake peanut butter cookies. in kansas city queries for how to make chocolate frosting jumped. the other thing snow-bound americans did this week was follow the news in the middle east. the anti-government protests egypt ratcheted up searches for searches for hosni mubarak and players and events that led the embattled leader to announce he would step down. searches for president mubarak spiked over 2900%. back home all the snow isn t dampening the excitement for super bowl sunday but there is some concern about how it could affect the showdown. searches for dallas weather forecasts are up 839%. and you know, if search queries could determine
they only made it as far as toronto. like so many other frustrated travelers, their ordeal is not quite over. chris bury, abc news, chicago. how about this timing. thousands of snow blowers are now being recalled due to a dangerous defect. american honda says more than 18,000 snowblowers could be at risk of fire. they were sold at honda power equipment dealers nationwide from april 2005 until last month. after 90 complaints about leaky fuel, honda now telling customers to stop using the snowblowers immediately and call a dealer for free repairs. we are learning this morning that the sugarloaf ski resort in maine was actually shutting down a chair lift when it fell. five chairs fell to the ground this week. it was a 30-foot drop for some of those skiers. three victims are still in the hospital. winds were gusting 40 to 50 miles an hour when the cable jumped its track. the operators were trying to realign the cable when the lift gave way. crews in suburban detroit
the streets, the bridges, the highways, the rail lines using anything they can, snowblowers and snow throwers. limited commuter train and subway service, though, is in effect for new york, the metropolitan area while the clean-up continues. a rundown for you. long island railroad, limited service. metro north railroad, staten island railroad, limited service. amtrak, limited and delayed. and the new york city subway system, it is considered the heartbeat, it s the artery that keeps the city running. well, it is, has taken quite a beating as well. service is back up, though, but, of course, delays there. and that is in most places. so be aware of that. and bus service, bus services as well severely limited. 400 buses were either stuck or just simply abandoned yesterday. but we did see a couple go by today so, you know, just be prepared for a lot of delays, arthel. arthel: yeah. hey, heather, thanks. speaking of those delays, some serious ones to tell you about right now. a new york city
pully to get the people off the chair lift and back on the mountains. but they let people stay up and running, going down the mountain, skiing down the mountain while this happened. describe to me this sort of hearty atmosphere that goes on, especially at the maine resorts. these are hardcore skiers. caller: yes, they are. they aren t skiing out west where the snow can be softer and the weather nicer. they re skiing in the east because they love it. they re dedicated, hardcore skiers. sugarloaf in particular has probably one of the most devoted, hardcore, hearty followings of all. that is home to the academy where, for instance, bode miller, the olympic athlete went there. this produces really worldclass skiers. the situation there ongoing. we re staying on top of developing details. sam, thanks for your help on the front. caller: my pleasure. snowblowers on the backs of
you know what s interesting? i don t know what you ve seen from, you know, your history covering everything, but you know, the snowplow has reached a point, and this what is i m covering today, snow shovels really for consumers that people are starting to buy them, the power shovels for a hundred bucks. you lose your shovel every year, so it s kind of like it s now reached a point where the gps has where it s basically more costly if you get lost with the gps. it s more costly if you don t have these things and i know that there s a lot of stores that are out of these things, as the guys that make these, you know, the mini plows or whatever you call them, the snowblowers, the snow throwers, they re already going on to lawn mowers. so it s kind of an interesting market how we finally reached that point where people are saying, you know what? it s time to finally buy one of these things. i don t want to pay for back surgery. you know what s going to