A major snowstorm is within a couple hours of sacking New York City and other parts of the eastern United States, with significant accumulations likely to start after 7 p.m.
So you might want to start making your way home from work. The MTA said express subway service will be impacted in anticipation of heavy snow and ice. Several major highways, including the Long Island Expressway and the New York State Thruway south of Albany, will also shut down from midnight Thursday to 5 a.m. on Friday, the New York Times reports.
A winter storm warning is already in effect for for New York City, Northeast New Jersey, and Southern Westchester County and will continue into Friday afternoon. The National Weather Service is calling for 5 to 9 inches of snow in these areas, the majority of it falling overnight.
The governors of New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts have also declared states of emergency.
“This is nothing to be trifled with,” New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said in conference call with reporters, according to the NY Daily News. “We have learned too well over the past years the power of Mother Nature.”
Temperatures are also expected to plummet into the teens tonight and into Friday morning. Low temperatures will make for dry, powdery snow that can easily be blown around by strong winds. This could create whiteout conditions, making travel extremely dangerous.
Wind chills of zero to 10 degrees below zero are expected late tonight into Friday.
Blizzard conditions are also possible for Long Island and the Massachusetts coast, according to the National Weather Service.
Here's a map of weather warnings in New York region, last updated a 5:39 p.m. Red areas indicate a blizzard warning and pink means a winter storm warning.
The major storm will impact areas from the southern Appalachians to New England, with heaviest snow occurring in central New York to the Massachusetts coast, the weather service said.
The National Weather Service said Boston could get close to 3 feet of snow by Saturday evening, while most of Rhode Island could receive more than 2 feet. Connecticut was bracing for 2 feet, and New York City was expecting as much as 14 inches.
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