New York – Washington D.C., New York and other East Coast cities readied fleets of snow plows, airlines canceled flights and residents stocked up on groceries on Thursday ahead of a winter storm expected to dump up to 30 inches (76 cm) of snow.
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As the first major East Coast winter storm began dumping snow on the nation’s capital, residents from North Carolina to New York were told to stay indoors, avoid travel and stock up on food and other necessities.
At least five states had declared emergencies by Thursday afternoon, as the season’s first major Atlantic Coast storm started to move over the Mid-South before barreling on an expected north and eastward course.
Blizzard warnings were out in the nation’s capital and Baltimore, with extreme conditions expected to begin on Friday afternoon, while New York City was under a blizzard watch for Saturday morning.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio urged motorists to stay off roads, starting on Friday.
“Anyone who has the illusion you’re going to be taking big trips over the weekend, get that out of your mind,” de Blasio said at a news conference.
Train service could be disrupted as well, by frozen switches, the loss of third-rail electric power or trees falling on overhead wires. About 1,000 track workers will be deployed to keep New York City’s subway system moving, and 79 trains will have “scraper shoes” to reduce icing on the rails, the Metropolitan Transit Authority said.
The National Weather Service put Washington D.C. and Baltimore under blizzard warnings from 3 p.m. EST (2000 GMT) Friday through Sunday morning.
It forecast up to 2 feet (61 cm) of snow in Washington, and as much as 30 inches (75 cm) in western suburbs, with winds gusting to 50 miles per hour (80 kilometers per hour).
“Visibility will be reduced to near zero in whiteout conditions,” it said.
States of emergency were declared in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, where road crews were out in force Thursday. Blizzard watches were in effect along the storm’s path, from Arkansas through Tennessee and Kentucky to the mid-Atlantic states.
Kentucky’s legislature cancelled its Friday session ahead of an expected 14 inches of snow. The heaviest snowfall, up to 2 feet, was forecast for areas west and southwest of the nation’s capital. Washington itself could see 15 to 20 inches, Philadelphia could get 12 to 18, and New York City and Long Island could see 8 to 10, said meteorologist Patrick Burke.
“In addition to heavy snow, we’ll see really strong winds in the metro area, possibly 40 to 50 mph. That’s going to cause a lot of blowing and drifting snow, and it’s also going to reduce visibility to about zero at times” around Washington and Baltimore, National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Hofmann said.
High winds could make it miserable outdoors even where smaller amounts of snow are expected. Forecasters warned of 30 mph winds in Manhattan on Saturday and coastal flooding in New Jersey.
But Boston, which bore the brunt of massive snowstorms last year, is expected to get just a few inches. If that forecast holds, Mayor Marty Walsh said Thursday that he would lend Bowser two new truck-mounted snow-blowers to help clear the capital’s streets.
The strongest winds and potentially life-threatening blizzard conditions are expected Friday night through Saturday night, making driving very dangerous along the Interstate 95 corridor.
All major airlines have issued waivers for travel over the weekend, allowing passengers to rebook onto earlier or later flights to avoid the storms. The airports included vary by airline but include some cities in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia all the way up the coast to New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
American Airlines is canceling the bulk of its flights in the Northeast ahead of the storm. Snow, ice and strong winds will all cause problems for fliers.
At its Charlotte hub, all 654 American flights are canceled for Friday. The airline will not keep any jets there overnight, with plans to resume flights to Charlotte on Saturday morning.
The three Washington and Baltimore area airports will see flight cancelations starting Friday afternoon with all flights canceled there Saturday.
New York’s three airports will see all Saturday afternoon American flights canceled with flights resuming on Sunday.
The only good news for fliers: Saturday is the slowest travel day of the week. There are a little more than 22,000 flights scheduled to, from or within the U.S., according to flight tracking service FlightAware. That’s about 5,000 fewer flights — and 400,000 fewer passengers — than on Thursday or Friday.
In and around the nation’s capital on Thursday, roads were mostly treated and clear for the morning rush hour, but some elevated roads, ramps and side streets remained icy, forcing drivers to inch along. In Virginia, police responded to 767 crashes over a 24-hour period ending early Thursday, including a trooper hit by a car sliding out-of-control, spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe warned of travel disruptions and power outages and saying people should “take the threat of this storm seriously.” Crews are treating roads ahead of the weekend storm, but Virginia transportation officials urged drivers to stay home in any case.
Some Maryland road crews got stuck in lengthy backups Wednesday night, slowing their progress, state Department of Transportation spokesman Charlie Gischlar said.
Quentin Norman said his commute home from the gas station he manages in Capitol Heights, Maryland, took an hour instead of the usual 15 minutes. Wednesday night’s mess “kind of took us by surprise,” he said. “Everybody was talking about the weekend.”
Chrissy Wiginton, 35, who works as an editor at the Smithsonian, said her walk to work across the National Mall on Thursday morning raised questions about the city and federal governments’ preparations.
“I was really surprised by how bad the sidewalks were,” she said. “It was really icy.”
One major event in Washington was still on: the March for Life, an annual anti-abortion rally that’s usually one of the largest events on the National Mall. It will be held Friday, the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.