After last winter’s blizzard blitz, many New Yorkers can’t help but feel that, despite yesterday’s fierce winds and downpours, they’ve dodged a bullet. Holiday travelers in other states were worrying about record-breaking snowfalls, canceled flights, and highways that resembled snow-covered parking lots.The biggest holiday transportation woes around New York City yesterday were soggy shoes and insideout umbrellas.

A major snowstorm that pummeled the Southern and Midwest states veered toward Canada, leaving the city damp but not snowbound. Yesterday’s heavy rainstorm caused high wind advisories to be issued throughout New York State last night, with the possibility for gusts of more than 50 miles an hour.

The weather was blamed for at least one death, as high winds felled a tree at the start of the afternoon commute in Queens yesterday. Irving Pendrick, 91, was killed as he was driving on the Cross-Island Expressway, according to police sources.

The tree hit Mr. Pendrick’s Lexus, crushing his skull. Police officials said he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Aside from the wet weather, in which a quarter-inch of rain fell in Central Park within an hour, few snags faced holiday travelers in and around the city.

The total rainfall in the park was 0.57 inches last evening, according to meteorologist Michael Silva. The forecast was for clear skies through at least the middle of next week.

At the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown, passengers were resigned to the whims of nature.

“You have to deal with the weather as it happens,” said a passenger who had just arrived from Maryland, Burt Hiester, 72.

An Amtrak spokeswoman, Marcie Golgoski, said that although some trains were running with restrictions, overall they were rolling smoothly.

“My booking people are telling me they’re not seeing anything of significance,” she said. “It’s a little bit different than normal, but nothing like Thanksgiving.”

Asked about holiday travel volume, Ms. Golgoski pointed out: “Penn Station is Penny Station. It’s always packed.” She also said that, unlike Thanksgiving, travel is more spread out over the Christmas holiday.

An MTA spokesman, Thomas Kelly, said mass transit maintained a normal schedule despite the weather. “There are no problems,” he said.

Greyhound buses, too, were on schedule in New York, although a spokeswoman, Anna Folmnsbee, said the company had cancellations on some routes in the Midwest where roads were covered in snow. In northwest Indiana, for example, the National Weather Service reported that 26 inches of snow buried Michigan City yesterday.

At the airports, there were minimal delays yesterday afternoon, with waits of an hour on arrivals and departures at La Guardia Airport and scattered 30-minute delays at Newark Liberty. Flights into and out of JFK were on schedule.

“We know it’s a busy travel time, so we gear up for it,” a Port Authority spokeswoman, Tiffany Townsend, said. “So far, so good.”

[Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that a tractor-trailer carrying a hazardous load rolled over early yesterday on the New York State Thruway, forcing officials to close a 60-mile stretch of roadway for nearly six hours.

The westbound lanes between Exit 25-A just west of Schenectady to Exit 30 at Herkimer were shut down around 6:30 a.m., according to state police.

Sergeant Brian Colville said the closure happened after 16 barrels of dichloral methane, a paint stripper, spilled near the Iroquois Travel Plaza just east of Exit 29-A at Little Falls.

Hazardous material crews cleaned up spillage from two barrels that began leaking, and one lane of the superhighway reopened just before noon, officials said.

The other lane was opened around 4 p.m. to ease the rush-hour commute, but authorities planned to close it again last night so cleanup efforts could be completed.

Westbound motorists were diverted off the Thruway at Exit 25-A to circumvent the accident scene and create a detour that tractor-trailers could travel. The trucks are not allowed to use Exit 29 at Canajoharie.]