Despite Chill in the Air, Revelers Give a Warm Welcome to 1990s

The ‘90s rolled in Monday to a welcome of parades and football games, but rain and stiff wind interfered with some New Year’s celebrations from New England to the nation’s capital and forced the postponement of Philadelphia’s traditional Mummers parade.

Revelers filled ski resorts on Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, taking advantage of the more than 150 inches of snow that have fallen so far this season.

Elsewhere in Michigan, Detroit police said many residents apparently heeded pleas to abandon the traditional midnight blast of gunfire to ring in the New Year. No injuries were reported.

Traditions died harder elsewhere.

In Chicago, the blare of New Year’s Eve party horns and bark of Champagne corks were punctuated by shots fired into the air. Police shot and killed a man shortly after midnight after he pointed a gun in their direction.

Residents of two public housing apartment buildings bailed their way into the 1990s, ankle deep in water and fighting a losing battle with a 30-year-old water pipe system. Chicago Housing Authority officials blamed the flooding on unseasonably cold weather that ruptured pipes.

Organizers of the historic Mummers parade in Philadelphia voted unanimously to postpone the annual New Year’s Day strut down Broad Street until Saturday after forecasters predicted wind gusts reaching 35 m.p.h.