Kaylon Maille, from the Naval War College in Newport, had his flight to Colorado canceled, so he was sleeping at T.F. Green Airport last night in hopes of catching a morning flight today.

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The Providence Journal / Kathy Borchers

A fast-moving winter storm that dropped more than 8 inches of snow on the state yesterday caused few of the problems that nearly froze Rhode Islanders in place last December.

The day played out in sharp contrast to Dec. 13, 2007, when a snowstorm broadsided an unprepared state, leaving a hundred Providence children stranded on school buses and motorists gridlocked for hours.

A granular snow began falling in western Rhode Island yesterday before noon, with the storm intensifying as it swept across the state. In some parts, “thunder snow” startled people with rumbles and claps akin to a summer squall.

The storm scrubbed flights at T.F. Green Airport and the cancellation of Christmas-related events, including last night’s performance of A Christmas Carol at Trinity Repertory Company.

The snowstorm might keep Greg Walters away from his home in Austin, Texas, until Monday.

“If it wasn’t so dangerous,” said Walters, whose flight was canceled yesterday, “I could drive home in that amount of time. I’ve checked everywhere. I even offered a bribe. I just want to get anywhere in Texas.”

There were no takers.

The Rhode Island Airport Corporation does not compile a list of all delays or cancellations at T.F. Green, according to Liberty Luciano, senior administrative assistant for the corporation, but the number of cancellations listed on its Web site grew throughout the day.

As the day wore on, hotels around the airport filled up with stranded travelers, and businesses booked rooms for employees. National Grid reserved 100 rooms at the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the Crossings in Warwick, while 25 rooms were snapped up at the Sheraton Providence Airport Hotel.

“We get our fair share of distressed passengers,” said Pam Griffin, a sales director at the Sheraton. “People come in and they can’t make it [onto a plane], so people come over here. They’re stuck here, so we try to keep everyone comfortable.”

The storm was a washout for some restaurants with canceled reservations outpacing unexpected arrivals

The storm was unlikely to deter the three dozen people expected for a wedding rehearsal dinner last night at the White Horse Tavern in Newport, or the 40 or so people planning to join the party later in the evening, said the restaurant’s manager. Most of the revelers were staying at nearby hotels.

“As long as they can get on a sled and get over here, we’ll feed them,” said Gary Swanson, the restaurant’s manager.

Some four inches of snow had fallen by 5 p.m. and another four inches by 9 p.m., according to television weather reports. More snow was expected before the storm subsided around midnight.

Yesterday afternoon, Governor Carcieri, dressed in a plaid shirt and casual clothes, addressed the media at the state’s Emergency Management Agency’s headquarters in Cranston.

Carcieri urged Rhode Islanders to: “Be cautious. Stay off the road unless you absolutely have to” drive.

Oddly, the state treated yesterday as a normal workday for its workers.

In a memo to state officials, Jerome F. Williams, director of the state Department of Administration, noted there was “no state of emergency.”

Other people heeded the call of their plaid-clad governor, closing schools and businesses early and mostly staying off the roads.

Still, the DOT reported a number of disabled vehicles and minor accidents as the roads became difficult to navigate.

Traffic in the metropolitan area appeared to be lighter than usual, said DOT spokesman Charles St. Martin III, as weather conditions slowed highway traffic to 30 to 35 miles an hour.

Route 6 west, west of Route 295, was closed for a time yesterday afternoon after a tractor trailer got stuck on a hill, St. Martin said.

Michael Lewis, state Department of Transportation director, predicted state roads would be clear today.

The DOT had about 100 state vehicles and more than 400 private vendors available for storm duty.

“Overall, road conditions look pretty good given the bad weather,” Martin said.

Still, he said, “People should not expect to see bare pavement. Plows just cannot plow that fast."

In Providence and Pawtucket, where traffic had clogged for hours during the Dec. 13 storm last year, the scene was different this time around.

There were few parked cars and little traffic, because schools were closed and businesses had either closed or allowed employees to work flexible hours to avoid the height of the storm.

Providence had 92 snowplows working in the city yesterday. On the East Side of Providence, plow driver Raymond Fratus, 53, said he was prepared to go for two full days without sleep in his 10-wheel truck.

“You get used to it,” he said. “The job keeps you occupied; you’re always moving.”

The city also enforced a parking ban yesterday, with police leaving $100 tickets on the windshields of vehicles parked on the streets.

“It’s generally uneventful,” Providence emergency management director Peter Gaynor said last night.

The state EMA received few requests for assistance from local officials, according to Carcieri.

As for the state’s response last year compared with this year, Carcieri said, “My sense is we don’t have anywhere the volume of traffic we had last year.”

State and municipal officials began preparing for the storm’s arrival Thursday as the National Guard positioned equipment around the Rhode Island and the state put the Emergency Operations Center in Cranston at “Level 2 activation,” with workers staffing the center and monitoring its Internet-based communications technology.

––With reports Journal staff writers Maria Armental, Linda Borg, Talia Buford, Gene Emery, Mike McKinney and Amanda Milkovits LOSE YOUR CAR?

If you are looking for your vehicle, start with the local police department. In Providence, where 300 to 400 vehicles were expected to be towed, an officer will be posted in the lobby of the Public Safety Complex starting at 7 a.m. to give release forms for people to get their vehicles back from the tow yards.PATS’ KIND OF WEATHER

Cold, wet conditions forecast for tomorrow could give the Patriots a bigger-than-usual home-field advantage over the pass-happy Arizona Cardinals. At the least, the weather is likely to put a premium on the running game.

See projoSports, Page B1

pgrimald@projo.com