Much of the Northeast was going into shutdown mode Monday ahead of a blizzard of "historic proportions," with thousands of flight cancellations, a statewide travel ban in Connecticut and road crews and utilities braced for a long night of work heading into Tuesday, when the storm could reach full strength.
The blizzard is expected to dump as much as 3 feet of snow along a 250-mile stretch from northern New Jersey up to southern Maine, affecting as many as 50 million people and potentially crippling New York City and Boston. Snowfall was expected as far south as Washington. The warning issued by the National Weather Service also indicated winds of up to 75 miles per hour and widespread coastal flooding was possible, starting Monday and extending throughout Tuesday.
Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy issued a statewide travel beginning at 9 p.m. Monday when the storm is expected to be at its heaviest. Malloy told reporters Monday the blizzard could potentially be a record-setter and urged all residents to stay indoors. He said that if residents lose power, they will likely be without it for "several days."
"It is imperative that you have a plan in place to get home safely this evening before the heavy snow begins and remain there for the duration of the storm," Malloy said Monday morning.
In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency and advised against unnecessary travel.
"It is imperative that you have a plan in place to get home safely this evening before the heavy snow begins and remain there for the duration of the storm."
- Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy
"The impending weather conditions over the course of the afternoon will produce a variety of dangerous travel conditions throughout the state," Christie said.
Throughout the area, road and utility crews were ready to plow and salt roads, as well as address possible power outages. John Latka, spokesman for PSE&G, which provides gas and electric service to much of New Jersey and parts of New York, called for patience from consumers in the event of outages.
“While snow by itself doesn’t normally pose a serious problem, heavy snow and strong winds can increase the possibility of downed wires and power outages,” Latka said. “These conditions will also make it difficult for our crews to get around and safely respond to any outages. We ask for our customers’ patience and cooperation as we work to restore service as quickly as possible.”
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio held up a list of the city’s top 10 snowstorms and said this one could land at the top of a list that goes back to 1872 and includes the 26.9 inches that fell in 2006. "Don't underestimate this storm. Prepare for the worst," he said as he urged residents to plan to leave work early Monday.
"This could be a storm the likes of which we have never seen before," he said at a news conference Sunday.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement that commuters should consider working from home on Monday if possible to avoid disruptions from likely road and public transportation closures.
"New York State is taking all necessary precautions to prepare for this storm, and I urge residents to put safety first and plan ahead to protect themselves and others throughout the duration of this snowstorm," he said.
Elsewhere in the region, Boston is expected to get 18 to 24 inches of snow, with up to 3 feet falling west of the city, and Philadelphia could see 14 to 18 inches, the weather service said. NWS lead forecaster Bob Oravec said that wind gusts of 75 mph or more are possible for coastal areas of Massachusetts, with gusts of up to 50 mph further inland.
"We do anticipate very heavy snowfall totals," Oravec, told the Associated Press. "In addition to heavy snow, with blizzard warnings, there's a big threat of high, damaging winds, and that will be increasing Monday into Tuesday. A lot of blowing, drifting and such."
One city likely to be spared large amounts of snowfall is Washington D.C., where forecasters expected only a coating or a bit more, with steadily increasing amounts as the storm moves north.
"Looks like our luck is about to run out," said John Paulsen as he gassed up his SUV in New Jersey. "I can't complain too much since we've had a pretty mild winter, but I don't know if I'm ready for a foot or so of snow all at once."
Preparations large and small were in effect elsewhere in New York. A Manhattan Home Depot store sold about twice as many shovels over the weekend as it normally does while transit officials hoping to keep the subways running smoothly planned to use modified subway cars loaded with de-icing fluid to spray the third rail that powers trains.
Wyatt Baars, manager of the Charlestown Ace Hardware in Boston, sold out of his bags of ice-melting pellets. But he said a New Hampshire distributor is helping him and delivering more.
"Everybody is preparing for the storm," he said. "When we have something this big on the horizon, everybody comes in for the ice melt, snow shovels, snow brooms."
Snow plow driver Al Laplant expected to be out clearing roads of Simsbury, Connecticut, this week, just as he has for more than two decades.
"We'll be out there until the storm's over and then at least three hours after cleaning up," he said as he attended a home show in Hartford. "We'll be out there through the whole storm."
But even for a plow driver, the snow is no cakewalk.
"It's kind of exhilarating," he said. "But at the same time, I've been doing it for 27 years, so I'm kind of tired of it myself."
At New York's Penn Station, Cicero Goncalves was waiting for a train to Vermont, where he's going snowboarding, because he expected the flight he had hoped to take would be canceled.
But the 34-year-old flight attendant from Queens — who was dressed in a full-length bear costume — counted himself and his travel partner as lucky. "We'll get there before it snows, and we're coming back when the storm is over, on Thursday," he said.
The storm could stall before it tracks out to sea, bringing high wind, heavy precipitation and the potential for coastal flooding, the National Weather Service said. It would be the second wallop for the Northeast after what happened Saturday, when a storm crawling up the East Coast left a slushy, snowy coating from Pennsylvania to New England.
The storm dumped at least 9 inches of snow in parts of Pennsylvania and 8 inches in parts of New York, northern New Jersey and northwestern Connecticut, with widespread reports of more than 4 inches in inland areas across southern New England. Lighter amounts were reported in Philadelphia, Boston and New York City, where the snowfall stopped Saturday evening.
About 8 inches of snow fell in far eastern Maine before the storm moved out late Saturday night.
Numerous accidents were reported on the slick roads, but there were no major highway backups in the lighter weekend traffic. Police in Connecticut and Massachusetts were investigating the weather's role in traffic accidents that killed two people Saturday afternoon.
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