Blizzard Warning for New York City Area Suddenly Upgraded; 2 Feet of Snow Possible
Blizzard warnings were issued on Saturday for New York City, New Jersey, and coastal communities along the East Coast, as a late-winter storm set to arrive on Sunday threatens to disrupt the start of the upcoming week.
The National Weather Service has raised its assessment of the storm’s potential severity—just days earlier, the system was forecast to be less intense.
The weather service stated that 1 to 2 feet (around 30 to 61 centimeters) of snow may fall in many areas as it issued blizzard warnings for New York City, Long Island, southern Connecticut, and coastal communities in New Jersey and Delaware. Flooding is also possible in parts of New York and New Jersey, the agency added.
“While we do see plenty of these nor’easters that bring heavy snow and significant impacts, it’s been several years since we’ve had one of this magnitude across such a large region in this highly populated part of the country,” said Cody Snell, a meteorologist at the service’s Weather Prediction Center.
Snell noted the storm will reach areas around Washington, D.C. on Sunday morning before moving toward Philadelphia and New York City, and arriving in Boston late on Monday evening.
The weather service mentioned the storm could start as rainfall in some locations before worsening, with the heaviest snowfall expected Sunday night and up to 2 inches (5 centimeters) of snow per hour at times in certain areas before tapering off by Monday afternoon.
The weather service warned the storm—with steady winds of 25 to 35 mph (40 to 56 kph)—will “make travel dangerous, if not impossible. Scattered downed tree limbs and power outages possible due to snow load and strong winds.”
The storm is approaching just as the icy remnants of a snowstorm that struck the region weeks earlier are finally melting away.
On Saturday, officials in Atlantic City, New Jersey, urged residents and casino visitors to stay off streets during the storm, especially in low-lying neighborhoods prone to flooding.
“I could go on and on probably with a good two dozen streets where we know we will get water and there will be snow on top of that,” said Scott Evans, the city’s fire chief and emergency management coordinator. “So you won’t be able to see it until it’s too late, so therefore please stay at home.”