- 36inches of snow expected across Northeast, with winds topping 55mph in New York City and 75mph on the coast
- New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island governors declared states of emergency
- National Guard is on standby in New York and 500 guardsmen have been deployed in Massachusetts
- Up to 100,000 people could lose power in Connecticut and could last a few days
- Officials were urging people to head home as soon as possible for their own safety leading to chaos on city transit
- All mass transit, including the subway, will close from 11pm and all non-emergency vehicles will be banned from roads
- Authorities said that violating the road ban could bring misdemeanor charges, a $300 fine and even get you arrested
- NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said: 'This will be one of the largest blizzards in the history of New York City. People must be prepared. This is not business as usual'
- Predictions say visibility on roads will be zero Monday night as 2-4 inches of snow fall per hour
- More than 3,800 flights canceled on Monday, with JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports virtually closed this evening
- The National Weather Service has issued a severe weather warning which affects 60 million people
Five
states declared a state of emergency on Monday as the Northeast braced
for a 'crippling and potentially historic' storm that could bury
communities from northern New Jersey to southern Maine in up to 3 feet
of snow and batter areas with hurricane-strength winds.
New
York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island governors
were taking no chances as winter storm Juno was set to dump snow at the
rate of several inches per hour along with bringing winds up 80mph in
some regions and creating whiteout conditions that were being described
as 'life-threatening', by the National Weather Service.
The
storm will affect a 250-mile stretch, including New York City,
Philadelphia and Boston, affecting close to 60 million people across
seven states. Widespread coastal flooding was expected to affect up to
11 million people starting on Monday afternoon.
Authorities
issued a sweeping travel ban effective from 11pm Monday, banishing all
except emergency vehicles from the streets of New York City and the
surrounding counties, with the threat of $300 fines for violators.
Public transit was also canceled for the night, with no clear sign of
when roads and services would start up again.
Airlines
were shutting down operations along the East Coast - with more than
6,000 flights canceled over the next two days, and the three major New
York City airports virtually closed.
On
Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris
Christie declared states of emergencies. Governor Christie said: 'This
is a different kind of storm than we've had before.'
New
York Mayor Bill de Blasio added: 'This will be one of the largest
blizzards in the history of New York City. People must be prepared. This
is not business as usual... Prepare for something worse than we have
seen before.'
He
urged people to get off the streets as quickly as possible in the next
few hours, adding: 'This is going to hit very hard and very fast.' As
of Monday afternoon, a quarter of an inch of snow was coming down every
ten minutes, according to weather experts.
Deserted: As the storm set in, hardly
any cars were on the streets in Manhattan. The coming snow - as much as
three feet - as prompted a total travel ban from city authorities
Snow central: A tourist poses in Times Square, which is being struck by the potentially historic storm in New York City
Frozen city: A lone man walks in front
of the Statue of Liberty, which was obscured by the vicious blizzard.
Forecasters say it could dump three feet of snow on the metropolis
Getting to work: A man starts shoveling snow from the streets in Brooklyn. Much more is set to follow
Bustling home: Pedestrians in midtown Manhattan push down the street in the hope of escaping the bad weather
Blowing in: The storm is seen above from space at 5.45pm New York time. The worst has not yet hit
Worth a shot: This snow blower made
some progress cleaning the street in front of Grand Central Station's
Lexington Avenue entrance - but the flurries were set to intensify
overnight
Frozen sardines: Commuters in this New York City train station were crammed in as the 11pm transport deadline drew nearer
Piling up: Pedestrians hurried through
the streets as snow piled up around them - amid authorities warning of a
state of emergency
Mechanical: One of thousands of snow
blowers in the city is pushed down normally-busy Lexington Avenue. The
worst snow is expected Monday night
No fun on the way home: The Hudson
railway line out of New York, pictured above, was also a victim of the
snow. All trains were set to close at 11pm
Quiet: The ice rink in lower Central
Park was clear of skaters tonight as everyone was warned to avoid all
non-essential outdoor activity
Massachusetts: Cambridge, next to
Boston, is pictured above under a blanket of snow as the storm advances
up the East Coast to envelop other cities
Snow trudge: A man makes his way
across Boston Common, which had a light dusting of snow Monday evening
ahead of the predicted big showers
Starting up: New Englanders in Boston's Back Bay wrapped up as the snow began there Monday afternoon
Frosted: A man walks through the
driving snow on the Brooklyn Bridge Monday afternoon. Mass transit will
be closed tonight, and vehicles banned from the streets as of 11pm
Struggling on: This scene in Manhattan was typical during the initial flurries of the storm on Monday afternoon
Silent city: Many roads were emptied
and sidewalks deserted as the snow continued to fall. Pictured above is
the west side of the city, shown by Instagram user Mike Zorger from the
World Trade Center
Storm front: This satellite image shows the winter storm advancing on the East Coast as of 9.15am local time
Rolling in: This radar map shows the
progress of the storm over the East Coast at 6.15pm with the most
intense parts still over the Atlantic
Widespread: A cyclist in New London,
Connecticut, waits at a snow-covered intersection Monday evening. The
state, along with New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Jersey,
is in a state of emergency
People wait for their train platform
to be announced at Penn Station in New York as a major snowstorm set in.
Travel officials said that they would be running a schedule like
Thanksgiving Eve to get everyone home before the worst of the snow hit
The snow flurries were increasing in
New York City on Monday with officials urging people to stock up on food
and water and head home early
Get off the roads: New York governor Andrew Cuomo banned all non-emergency vehicles from the roads, effective from 11pm Monday
Keeping it clear: A well-protected cleaner takes his snow blower to the streets in Foley Square, downtown Manhattan
One way to get around: A man in Brooklyn's Prospect Park gives his skis a rare city outing
Cold eagle: This ornate decoration
outside Manhattan's Grand Central Station gained an extra coating of
white as the afternoon wore on
Prepping up: A loader gets ready to stack up salt and gravel in Atlantic County, New Jersey, ahead of the snowfall
Heavy surf pounds the shoreline on
Monday where a boardwalk once stood before it was damaged by Hurricane
Sandy in 2012. Coastal areas were bracing for high waves and
hurricane-strength winds heading into tonight
Snow predictions as of Monday
afternoon revealed that several feet was going to blanket the Northeast
along with high winds which would create 'life-threatening' whiteout
conditions, according to the National Weather Service
Here it comes! New York was bracing
for a severe snowstorm which was set to begin around noon on Monday and
could drop up to two feet on the city and bring hurricane-strength
winds. A state of emergency was announced by Governor Cuomo today
New Yorkers walk through the snowfall
as it began to get heavy on Monday as Mayor Bill de Blasio warned
residents to get off the streets
New Yorkers were piling their grocery carts high on Monday afternoon as they headed home to bunker down ahead of this storm
Whole lot of people: This Whole Foods
store in Manhattan was dealing with a tide of shoppers desperate to
stock up before the snow hit
Not promising: A passenger at LaGuardia airport looks at arrival and departures boards racked by cancellations
Busy times: Trader Joe's near Union Square , right, had lines out the door, so fierce was the panic-buying
Bagel chips and pasta sauce it is,
then: This Gristedes store had precious little to offer shoppers Monday
night after panic-buyers took everything
All
vehicle traffic has been banned from the streets of New York City
starting at 11pm, with mass transit closed then as well. Subways and
buses will switch to local-only service from 8pm, while only emergency
vehicles will be allowed on the streets in New York City and surrounding
counties as of 11pm.
Experts
warned that the snow, which started in earnest in New York around 2pm,
would be most intense from 11pm, with four inches an hour falling,
frustrating the efforts of snow plows to keep the roads clear.
Even
pedestrians were warned against leaving buildings. In a 7pm update on
the storm, de Blasio said: 'It's gonna drastically change at 11, 12
o'clock. We've got to press the point - it's going to be dangerous,
especially dangerous to drive and walk.
'You're
going to see it's going to be very difficult to be outside. I don't
want to see anybody outside that doesn't absolutely need to be outside.'
Winds
topping 55 miles per hour (88 kmph) were predicted to lash New York
City and its suburbs, raising the potential for power outages caused by
tree limbs falling on overhead utility lines.
On
Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo warned that residents should not
take the snowstorm lightly, adding: 'The snow combined with the wind
makes it dangerous and difficult conditions'
New
York City was likely to see 'thundersnow' - when snow collides with the
dry air, resulting in lightning strikes and rolling thunder.
On
Monday, Governor of Connecticut Dannel Malloy issued a statewide travel
ban from 9pm this evening where 12-18 inches of snow was expected and
closed schools on Tuesday.
NJ
Governor Christie urged people to stay off the roads unless in absolute
necessity and, in particular, when the worst conditions hit at 9pm on
Monday.
The
National Weather Service said roads throughout the Mid-Atlantic would
be slippery and visibilities could be reduced to a quarter-mile at
times.
Chaos
engulfed the city as shoppers, with recent memories of Hurricane Sandy
in October 2012, formed long lines and emptied grocery store shelves in
preparation.
There
would be zero visibility on roads overnight on Monday, forecasters
warned, with drivers urged to take the utmost care and avoid journeys
where possible.
Governor Cuomo said on Monday that the subway would run until 7-8pm as normal, then be on a reduced service.
At 11pm tonight, the MTA subway system would shut down along with Port Authority facilities.
As of early on Monday afternoon, The Long Island Rail Road and Metro North were set to close at 11pm.
People were reporting packed out
trains on the Long Island Rail Road where trains would be running a
reduced service later on Monday night
Struggle: Commuters piled on to subway lines, many of which were delayed, and all of which were due to shut in the evening
Busy: This station was crammed with those desperate to get home - even before the shutdown of public transit had begun
Fleeing the city: Commuters piled into
Grand Central Terminal in the hope of catching a train before services
ended earlier than usual
Serious gear: This New York state trooper took to a snowmobile to respond to the declared state of emergency
Karen Barker, center right, and her
daughter, Grace Barker, 13, wait in line to see if they will be able to
board a rescheduled flight to Texas at LaGuardia Airport in New York
Maybe don't come fly with me: The
departures lounge at JFK had barely anyone there this afternoon after
hundreds of flights were axed
Snow removal equipment sits on the
tarmac at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts ahead of a major winter
storm predicted to hit the area later in the day
Metro-North will run an early getaway schedule as it does on Thanksgiving Eve, according to travel authorities.
Tractor-trailer bans were being issued on major roads in New York from 4pm, Governor Cuomo said.
Some
2,400 sanitation workers were planned to work back-to-back in 12 hours
shifts, using 750 snow plows and tons of salt for the massive cleanup on
about 6,000 miles of city streets - the equivalent of New York to LA
and back again.
Most
non-essential state employees were being sent home at 3pm on Monday in
affected areas as private offices emptied out, with the majority of
companies taking the severe weather warnings seriously.
All Broadway performances were canceled on Monday night in New York City.
Monday
night home games were postponed for the New York Knicks and Brooklyn
Nets while comedian Louis C.K. nixed his final show set for Tuesday at
Madison Square Garden.
The
UN headquarters gave itself a day off on Tuesday and schools across the
East Coast dismissed students early on Monday and canceled classes for
Tuesday, with those in Boston staying closed until Thursday.
States of emergency have been declared
in five states as authorities warned people to get off the streets
ahead of the massive storm hitting the Northeast
Commuters in New York were being urged
to head home early as mass transit planned to run on reduced schedules
during the worst of the storm on Monday night
In
New York City, the Greater New York Taxi Association offered free cab
service for emergency responders trying to get to work, and disabled and
elderly residents who become stranded.
Government
officials began to activate emergency centers on Sunday as professional
sports teams, schools and utilities hastily revised their schedules and
made preparations.
New York schools were open on Monday but expected to be closed on Tuesday, according to the mayor.
The
Super Bowl-bound New England Patriots expected to be out of town by the
time the storm arrives in Boston. The team plans to leave Logan Airport
at 12.30pm on Monday for Phoenix, Arizona. where the temperature will
reach the high 60s.
In
Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker warned residents to prepare for
roads that are 'very hard, if not impossible, to navigate,' power
outages and possibly even a lack of public transportation.
Cape
Cod was expected to see up to three feet of snow with all weather
models showing at least two feet of snow across Hartford, Connecticut,
Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston along with 50mph winds which will
make travel treacherous.
People walk along a Manhattan street
in heavy snow as the city braced for a forecast 24 inches of snow
overnight on Monday, leaving the city with treacherous conditions. Stay
home, has been the strongly-worded advice from the city's mayor
Workers de-ice a plane during a light
snow on the runway at LaGuardia Airport in New York early on Monday.
Airlines cancelled thousands of flights into and out of East Coast
airports
A plow truck clears snow off South
Church Street, in Hazleton, Pennsylvania on Monday. The area received
another three-inches of snow overnight
A plow travels down a city street
during heavy snow in the financial district of Manhattan - the streets
were quiet as most offices allowed employees to go home early for their
own safety
Chaos:
Pictured left, traffic jams were backing up on Central Parkway, Queens
near New York's La Guardia airport while thousands of travelers were
stranded (picture at La Guardia on Monday) after airlines canceled more
than 5,000 flights
Widespread power outages were expected and could last days, authorities across New England warned.
An
early accident between a car and a snow plow was reported on Monday
morning in Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, according to ABC.
A
tractor-trailer jackknifed, and a beer truck a;so crashed into the
median on Interstate 81 near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during the
morning commute. No injuries were reported.
Some
of the occupants of the car were pinned inside and had to be cut free
after the vehicle hit the snow plow's wheel around 6.15am. Their
injuries were unknown at this time.
The
storm was blasting its way up the Atlantic coast and would dump huge
quantities of snow from Washington, D.C., to Maine, with New York City
and the surrounding areas hardest-hit.
At
the same time, New York City was set to face hurricane-strength winds
topping 55mph. The Weather Channel predicted that gusts could reach up
to 75mph in Montauk, Long Island.
New
York Governor Cuomo said: 'I urge residents to put safety first and
plan ahead to protect themselves and others throughout the duration of
this snowstorm.'
Many
New Yorkers reacted to the abysmal weather predictions - which could
bring the worst storm since records began in 1872 - by cleaning out
their local grocery stores.
Shoppers
were pictured lining up around the block in Manhattan just to get
inside so they could grab hold of rapidly-diminishing supplies.
The New York City-area airports were set to be especially hard-hit by the weather.
Deserted: An abnormally quiet Newark
Airport in New Jersey on Monday morning as hundreds of arriving and
departing flights had already been canceled
The Massachusetts governor declared a
state of emergency and warned people to stay off the roads to avoid
accidents, as seen here on Monday in Southborough
According to the FlightAware monitoring
service, just short of 4,000 services have been canceled on Monday,
with LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and JFK airports the worst affected.
FlightAware
said around 70 per cent of all inbound flights to those three hubs were
cancelled tomorrow. Newark canceled 89 per cent of its departing
flights as well, with LaGuardia scrapping more than three-quarters of
theirs. Atlantic City airport in New Jersey was also reporting a huge
number of cancellations.
New
Jersey and New England were under severe weather warnings with
authorities telling residents to avoid making long journeys in
life-threatening conditions.
The National Weather Service in Boston said that 'travel may become impossible'.
New
York City's current record for snowfall is 26.9inches in February 2006.
The most extreme predictions for the coming storm exceed that by almost
ten inches.
'This
could be a storm the likes of which we have never seen before,' New
York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at a news conference Sunday.
'Don't underestimate this storm. Prepare for the worst,' he said as he urged residents to plan to leave work early Monday.
Boston
is expected to get 18 to 24 inches of snow, with up to 2 feet or more
west of the city, and Philadelphia could see up to a foot, the weather
service said.
The Washington area expected only a couple of inches, with steadily increasing amounts as the storm heads north.
'We
do anticipate very heavy snowfall totals,' said Bob Oravec, lead
forecaster with the weather service in College Park, Maryland.
'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.'
Wind gusts of 75 mph or more are possible for coastal areas of Massachusetts, and up to 50 mph further inland, Oravec said.
Towns
along New Jersey’s coast were expected to be the hardest hit by the
storm, and Jersey shore communities were watching out for flooding.
The storm was expected to cause moderate flooding in oceanfront communities between midnight and 1am on Tuesday.
Back
bay areas tend to flood several hours after the oceanfront high tide.
The weather service says some property damage could occur, and tides and
wave action will cause severe beach erosion.
Parts
of the shore that were hit hard by Superstorm Sandy now have man-made
dunes, rocks or metal walls. But other cities still have not agreed to
protective dunes, and some are fighting the state’s plans for them in
court.
The
weekend storm which brought snow and slush to the Northeast - the first
real snow of the season for many areas - was just a warm up. The storm
promised treacherous travel by both land and air along the busy
northeast corridor.
Preparations
large and small were in effect in New York City. A Manhattan Home
Depot store sold about twice as many shovels over the weekend as it
normally does.
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.
Farther
north, a blizzard watch is in effect for Boston from Monday night
through early Wednesday. Wind gusts of 60 mph or more are possible on
Cape Cod, forecasters said.
Wyatt
Baars, manager of the Charlestown Ace Hardware in Boston, sold out of
his bags of ice-melting pellets but said a New Hampshire distributor was
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 from Monday, just as he has been doing 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 cake walk.
'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.'
People wrap up warm for a chilly walk
in Central Park in Manhattan, New York ahead of the approaching blizzard
on Monday afternoon
A cyclist
navigates between a New York Dept. of Sanitation truck with a snow plow
attached, and cars on New York's Sixth Avenue (left). Street cleaner
Francisco Mathurine clears snow from the steps in Times Square on Monday
Stockpiling:
Shelves were emptied of produce in New York City on Monday as queues at
the grocery stores grew to hundreds of people
A worker in the Northeast stands on
top of a huge stockpile of salt as authorities were taking no chances
with forecasts of a severe storm
HOW NYC HAS BEEN BURIED IN SNOW AGAIN AND AGAIN - BUT THE COMING STORM COULD BE THE BIGGEST YET
In more than a hundred years of record-keeping, snowfall in New York City has only cleared the 20-inch mark a handful of times.
However,
the 36inches predicted in the storm now approaching the city would
dwarf even the current record-holder. Below are the top five recorded
snowfall figures for a single storm:
1. February 11-12, 2006: 26.9inches
2. December 26-27, 1947: 25.8inches
3. March 12-14, 1888: 21.0inches
4. February 25.26, 2010: 20.9inches
5. January 7-8, 1996: 20.2inches
Record-holder:
A storm in 2006 which dropped almost 27inches of snow in New York City
is the current record-holder. Above, a man walks his two golden
retrievers through the blizzard
Hard clean-up: The fourth-worst snowstorm, in 2006, is pictured above, with workers using snow blowers to clean up Park Avenue
The
older storms, from 1888 and 1947, were deadly for many and are
remembered as disasters in the city, while later storms made less of a
dent because of modern technology and greater preparedness.
The
1888 blast coated the boroughs, and caused chaos by disrupting power
lines and other utilities, which were later moved underground as a
response.
In
1947, the storm came by surprise as it approached from the sea, where
there was little infrastructure for weather warnings. Snow was piled up
and dumped in the sewers or rivers from Manhattan, but districts further
from water struggled for days with the huge pileups.
Storms
in the 1990s and 2000s still caused widespread chaos but were handled
more deftly. The 2010 storm canceled a third of all flights from New
York City. Costs associated with cleaning up after the 2006 storm
reportedly hit the tens of millions.
Blizzards past: The above image shows Grand Central Depot in 1888, when devastating snows ravaged the city
Striking
again: 25.8inches of snow fell on Central Park in 1947, which came as a
surprise because it approached from over the sea
Read more:
- Mayor de Blasio Delivers Special Weather Update - YouTube
- Transit could close as blizzard set to blanket New York - NY Daily News
- Snow plow, car collide in Haverford Township | 6abc.com
- Live Airline Flight Cancellations Info & Statistics ✈ FlightAware
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