A winter storm stretching from North Carolina to New England was expected to produce more than a foot of snow in some areas, disrupt travel for millions of people along the I-95 corridor and create dangerous conditions until Tuesday, meteorologists said.
Widespread snowfall of up to 12 inches, including snowfalls greater than 18 inches, was likely in the northeast.
A whopping three inches of snow fell over the Washington, DC area on Sunday, and forecasters said another inch or so would be collected on Monday.
Farther north, in Philadelphia, about two inches of snow had fallen by the early hours of Monday, with about two inches in the suburbs. Conditions in the area were expected to deteriorate dramatically as the day progressed, local meteorologists said, suggesting the heaviest snow will fall from mid-morning to early evening.
The Philadelphia area was predicted to receive eight to four inches of snow. Areas around the city would receive more than a foot and more than 45 inches of snow was possible in the Lehigh Valley and Poconos. A combination of heavy snow and high winds of up to 60 mph in some areas can cause power outages.
According to the National Weather Service, heavy snow with accumulations of 16 to 22 inches was forecast for the northern parts of New Jersey, where the state of emergency was in effect, and for northeastern Pennsylvania. Wind gusts can reach up to 35 mph. Areas in central New Jersey could see snow totals of about 15 inches, the service said, making travel extremely difficult.
Similar conditions were predicted for New York City, which also had a state of emergency. According to CBS New York, 12 to 18 inches of snow was expected for Manhattan, the Bronx, Staten Island, and parts of Brooklyn and Queens. Long Island could receive six to twelve inches. Strong winds were expected to sweep through the tristate area, up to 80 km / h in some areas. Counties along the Hudson Valley would be inundated with up to 18 inches of snow by nightfall, according to the National Weather Service.
Blizzard-like conditions were expected to develop in New England Monday, Boston meteorologists said. Snow in Massachusetts was expected to start falling at a rate of five to five centimeters per hour by morning, and a foot was expected by evening. Wind gusts of up to 70 mph and moderate coastal flooding can occur.
Snow will shift to Northern New England Monday evening, according to the National Weather Service. There may be areas of rain and freezing rain along the I-95 corridor from Washington to Philadelphia.
The storm brought more than six feet of snow and heavy rain to California last week before crossing the Midwest, leaving about eight inches of snow in Chicago, the National Weather Service said.
Coronavirus vaccination sites on the New York subway closed Monday amid an impending winter storm that is expected to dump more than a foot of snow on the region.
Winter storm warnings were in effect for much of the eastern United States on Sundays, disrupting vaccinations in Washington, Philadelphia, New Jersey, and elsewhere.
At a press conference on Sunday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he didn’t want older residents traveling to vaccination appointments amid gusty snowstorms. The vaccinations scheduled in New York City on Tuesday have not been canceled for the time being, de Blasio said.
The storm will temporarily derail the vaccine rollout plagued by inadequate supply, error notification systems and confusion about New York State’s strict authorization guidelines. The vaccine is available to residents aged 65 and over, as well as a wide variety of workers classified as ‘essential’.
About 800,000 doses have been administered in the city so far, Mr de Blasio said.
Vaccine appointments at several locations in the region – the Javits Center in Manhattan, the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, a drive-through site on Jones Beach on Long Island, SUNY Stony Brook, and the Westchester County Center – would be rescheduled for this week. to a statement from Melissa DeRosa, a top aide to Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. “We ask all New Yorkers to monitor the weather and stay off the road tomorrow so that our crews and first responders can safely do their jobs,” she said.
In the Philadelphia area, city-run testing and vaccination sites are closed on Mondays. Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island and parts of Washington DC followed suit. Some areas outside of the storm’s center were expected to remain open for vaccinations, including parts of Massachusetts and New York state.
In New York City, a forecast of up to 18 inches of snow by Tuesday has sparked dire warnings from city and state officials advising people to stay indoors and avoid travel.
On Sunday night, Mayor Bill de Blasio issued a local emergency statement, with most journeys in the city starting at 6 a.m. Monday, except in an emergency. Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey declared a state of emergency that began at 7 p.m. on Sunday and said most of the New Jersey Transit bus and train operations would take place temporarily suspended Monday because of the storm.
“This is not a storm to underestimate,” said Mr de Blasio. “Take it seriously. This is a dangerous storm.”
Overnight, the National Weather Service predicted three to five inches of snow would have fallen in Central Park.
It estimated that one to four inches of snow could fall per hour in the afternoon.
The wind is expected to increase and gusts of wind can reach up to 45 per hour. That could create “blizzard-like” conditions, said Deanne Criswell, the city’s emergency management commissioner.
Officials and utility companies warned of falling trees and widespread power outages in the region.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority crews have worked to keep the bus and train service running, racing to keep ice off the subway rails, and rig buses with chains. The bus service would be cut, and the MTA said the subway connection could be suspended above ground if the snowfall was severe enough.
While inches of snow accumulated during Washington’s biggest winter storm in two years, there was one place without snowball fights.
The Capitol Grounds, one of the best places in town for tobogganing, is now off-limits, another echo of the frenzy there on January 6.
Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, the non-voting delegate from the District of Columbia, had urged Capitol Police to continue the tradition. The activity could be done safely, Ms. Norton said in a statement on Saturday, “by allowing only children and adults accompanied by children” into the area.
But a Capitol Police spokeswoman Eva Malecki, who mentioned the city’s current security concerns and coronavirus restrictions, said it couldn’t be allowed. “However, we look forward to welcoming sleders again in the future,” she said in a statement.
Although there has been a rule against sledging on the Capitol for decades, it was not enforced until after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
Ms. Norton has for years pushed for sleds to be allowed on the property, routinely adding a provision to the annual federal spending bill to “waive enforcement” of the ban listed on page 175 of the Capitol Police Regulations. She first managed to slide the sledge provision into omnibus spending in 2016. (“Go for it!” she told the residents of the city after the ban was lifted that year.)
The year before, Washingtonians held a “snow-in” at the complex to protest the rule.
The ban has been revived at another time of heightened tensions. Nowadays, instead of children making snowmen and snow angels, visitors to the Capitol complex are greeted by two-foot-high, unscalable fences that went up after the riot.
But in a difficult year, Ms. Norton said, the sledding tradition was a joy that should not be erased.
“Children across America have had an extremely challenging year,” she said, “and DC children, in particular, have survived not only the coronavirus pandemic, but now the militarization of their city, with the hostile symbols of fences and barbed wire. Tobogganing is a simple childhood thrill. It’s the least we can allow for our resilient kids this winter season. “
Blizzard is a colloquialism often used when there is a significant winter storm.
But certain conditions must be met for a storm to be classified as a blizzard; the distinction is not based solely on snowfall.
The National Weather Service defines a blizzard as a storm with gusts of wind in excess of 35 miles per hour for at least three hours, along with drifting snow that limits visibility to less than a quarter of a mile.
Meteorologists said Monday’s winter storm could drop more than two inches of snow per hour in some areas, and it appeared to have the characteristics of a blizzard.
A nor’easter is a broad term used for storms that move along the east coast with winds typically from the northeast that blow over coastal areas, according to the National Weather Service.
They can form at different times of the year.
This storm created when an area of low pressure above the Ohio Valley, bringing snow to the Lower Great Lakes and the northern Mid-Atlantic Ocean, passed the baton to a nor’easter forming off the east coast, the Weather Service said.