Live Updates: Thousands of Flights Canceled as Storm Barrels Up East Coast

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A powerful winter storm was bearing down on a wide swath of the East Coast early Saturday, hours after it prompted the governors of New York and New Jersey to issue emergency declarations and forced the cancellation of more than 5,000 flights.

As of 1 a.m., snow had been falling in New York and New Jersey for several hours. No major power outages had been reported in the Northeast. Yet people up and down the coast were bracing for heavy snowfall, treacherous travel conditions and the potential for widespread power failures.

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s emergency declaration took effect at 8 p.m. on Friday. It applied to New York City, Long Island, and Rockland and Westchester Counties. Five to 10 inches of snow were expected in the city and the mid-Hudson region, and up to 16 inches were forecast to fall on Long Island.

In other places, particularly the Boston area, meteorologists were predicting high winds, at times approaching hurricane force, and up to two feet of snow.

The National Weather Service said that heavy snowfall would be concentrated over the southern coast of New Jersey from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. and over parts of New England later in the morning. It predicted that areas of Massachusetts and Rhode Island could see “whiteout conditions” and as much as two to four inches of snow per hour.

“Plenty more snow is on the way,” the service’s Boston office said on Twitter, in a post that showed a picture of its snowy parking lot.

As of Friday afternoon, blizzard warnings had been posted for central and eastern Long Island, Southeastern Connecticut and all of Rhode Island, as well as parts of Delaware, Maine and Massachusetts. Gov. Glenn Youngkin of Virginia had also declared a state of emergency, and airports across the region were busy canceling flights.

Data from FlightAware, a site that tracks flights and the airline industry, showed that most of the 1,100-plus canceled departures on Saturday had been scheduled to take off from Boston Logan International Airport and the three main aviation hubs for New York City: LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty.

Delta said on Friday that it would suspend operations at those airports through Sunday morning, and that it expected to restart them on Sunday afternoon if conditions allowed.

The storm, described by forecasters as “powerful and dangerous,” was expected to push northward over the weekend, just offshore from the East Coast. The Weather Service said that in addition to strong winds and whiteout conditions that could make travel “nearly impossible” at some points, parts of the region could also see coastal flooding.

Forecasters are warning of a “historical blizzard” that is expected to relentlessly bury Rhode Island and eastern Massachusetts in up to two feet of snow beginning on Saturday morning.

Three feet of snow is possible in localized areas. Along the coast, flooding is expected and wind gusts may surpass 70 miles per hour, almost as strong as a Category 1 hurricane.

The National Weather Service in Boston said online on Friday that “models have now come into consensus for a historical blizzard to impact eastern southern New England.” Boston is expected to be bombarded, with Mayor Michelle Wu declaring a snow emergency beginning at 9 p.m. and a citywide parking ban. Forecasters are predicting 18 to 24 inches of snow to blanket the city.

“This is likely to be an intense, dangerous storm with heavy snow, high winds and whiteout conditions,” Ms. Wu said at a morning news conference.

Plows will not be able to keep up with expected snowfall rates of up to four inches per hour, state transportation officials said. Whiteout conditions will make it difficult, if not impossible, to see the road, said state officials, who urged residents to avoid unnecessary travel.

Hours after canceling plans to attend the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, Gov. Charlie Baker asked residents to take precautions and stay home during the storm.

“This kind of storm is nothing new for Massachusetts,” Mr. Baker said, “but we haven’t had one like this for quite a while.”

At Pennsylvania Station in New York City on Friday night, Jordan Greene jumped off the Acela train from Washington. He planned to head to a bar on the Lower East Side at about 10 p.m.

The snow was picking up. But he wasn’t deterred by the forecasts calling for as much as a foot of it to fall through Saturday, at which point he would probably be trying to make his way to Flatbush in Brooklyn.

“I really just like coming back for the energy of the city and to see friends, and the snow just happened to coincide with this trip and I like adventure,” said Mr. Greene, who divides his time between Brooklyn and Richmond, Va.

“I’ll figure it out after that — put my boots to work,” Mr. Greene said of the trip to Brooklyn that lay ahead.

Commuters at Penn Station on Friday seemed mostly undeterred by the forecasts. A handful of New York Rangers fans were trickling out of Madison Square Garden to catch commuter trains. None of them seemed particularly worried about the storm; on the other hand, they’d left the game as the Rangers were tied with the Minnesota Wild (who eventually won).

In Washington, where Mr. Greene had boarded his train, Linda Porter, a Lyft driver, said her shift had been “pretty busy” as the storm made its way through the city in the early evening.

“A lot of people were trying to get away, go somewhere where the weather wasn’t as bad as it was predicted to be,” she said.

There was also a flurry of traffic as parents picked up children who were let out of school early, and as other residents headed to grocery stores to stock up, Ms. Porter said.

As a powerful storm moved up the East Coast on Friday, the National Weather Service issued several blizzard warnings, predicted blizzard conditions and even warned that parts of New England could experience a “historical blizzard.”

That led some Twitter users to wonder: What makes a storm a blizzard, anyway?

The current storm is expected to dump upward of two feet of snow on some parts of the East Coast this weekend. But the National Weather Service’s definition of a blizzard doesn’t require heavy snow — or, for that matter, any particular temperature.

It defines a blizzard by three criteria: blowing or falling snow, winds of at least 35 miles per hour, and visibility of a quarter mile or less for at least three hours.

“Whether or not the snow falls during the time of the blizzard, dangerous conditions can result,” a Weather Service Twitter account said on Friday.

In order to form, blizzards need cold air to make snow, and moisture to form clouds and precipitation. The moist air needs to rise over very cold air, making clouds and snow.

Officials have also described this weekend’s storm as a “nor’easter.” That term usually describes a weather system in which winds just off the East Coast collide with surface winds from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States amid areas of low pressure.

Officials across the Northeast geared up Friday to battle high winds and blizzard conditions, but work force shortages caused by Covid-19 complicated their efforts.

The intensity of the storm could further strain staffing stretched thin as the highly contagious Omicron forces sick employees to isolate with symptoms and even asymptomatic patients to quarantine for fear they could infect others.

About 10 or so workers were out because of Covid-19 and the virus was making other tasks more difficult in the town of Plymouth, Mass., which was bracing for more than two feet of snow, said Jonathan Beder, the town’s director of public works.

In addition to the absences, officials were trying not to transport emergency workers in the same vehicle, Mr. Beder said. He added that even contract help was scarce.

“It will definitely slow our response down,” he said.

Mr. Beder is worried about the duration of the storm. If the snow and cleanup last about 30 hours or so, as expected, employees working throughout with only occasional breaks will be exhausted, he said. “We don’t have second or third shifts,” he said. “We’re not like a police or fire department.”

In Connecticut, the transportation commissioner said staffing is down about 30 percent, leading to a greater reliance on contractors to fill the gap.

Whether staffing levels are enough will depend on the strength of the storm, the commissioner, Joseph Giulietti, said at a news conference. Snow falling at about an inch an hour should be fine, he said. But if it comes down at three to five inches an hour, as predicted, “we will not be able to keep up with that.”

Transit officials around the New York City region warned on Friday of service suspensions and possible travel delays over the weekend, when a Nor’easter is expected to bring blizzard conditions to parts of Long Island and significant snow in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which runs the city’s subway and buses and two suburban commuter rail lines, said that it would suspend service on the Long Island Rail Road by 8 a.m. on Saturday.

Janno Lieber, the authority’s chairman and chief executive, said at a news conference on Friday that service may be suspended earlier if the storm moves quickly.

“We are preparing to suspend service early tomorrow morning during the worst of the storm, which could drop two inches of snow per hour,” Mr. Lieber said. “Just so you know, in the middle of the night some time, we’re going to be suspending service.”

The Metro-North Railroad, which serves the city’s northern suburbs, will run hourly service on its Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines. But Harlem Line service will run only as far north as Southeast, N.Y., and trains will not run on the New Canaan, Danbury or Waterbury branches in Connecticut.

Disruptions are likely on the city’s buses and subways, Mr. Lieber said. Transit officials do not expect to suspend subway service, but about 220 miles of the system’s tracks run outdoors rather than in tunnels, and travel on those sections can be affected by heavy snow or ice. The transportation authority has equipment like snowblowers and de-icing cars to help avoid significant service outages.

Bus service and schedules may be altered, depending on the condition of the city’s roads. Mr. Lieber said that the city’s extra-long articulated buses will be taken out of service for the storm, and the buses that remain in operation will be equipped with chains to help them travel on icy or snow-covered roads.

“Avoid unnecessary travel,” Mr. Lieber advised. “And if you have to travel, please exercise extreme caution.”

New Jersey Transit said it would suspend bus service on Saturday. The River Line, a light-rail system between Trenton and Camden, will not run. Otherwise, the agency said it would operate its regular schedule on Friday and Saturday, “for as long as weather and road conditions permit.”

Both New Jersey Transit and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority advised customers to check their social media feeds, websites and apps for the latest details.

New York City was preparing for high winds and up to a foot of snow that could create dangerous conditions late Friday and into Saturday. And the city’s new mayor, Eric Adams, said he was ready for the challenge.

Mr. Adams donned a Sanitation Department hat and parka for a Friday afternoon news conference at which he warned drivers to stay off the roads. As trucks stood at the ready, he said that the city’s Covid testing and vaccine sites would be closed on Saturday, and outdoor dining would be suspended. But he quickly added that restaurants could stay open for indoor dining.

“One of the best ways to navigate the snow is to go inside and spend some money for our restaurants,” Mr. Adams said.

Christina Farrell, the acting commissioner of the city’s Office of Emergency Management, encouraged residents to quickly call in reports of any downed trees or heat and hot water outages, and to sign up for the city’s Notify NYC text-message service for weather-related updates. She noted that temperatures were expected to fall sharply, with wind chills near zero on Saturday night.

Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency in the southern part of the state, including New York City, effective at 8 p.m. Friday.

Long Island was expected to get more snow than the city, with accumulations of 10 to 16 inches possible, and a blizzard warning was issued for Suffolk County. The Long Island Rail Road said it would suspend service on all branches on Saturday. In a statement, Ms. Hochul warned that winds could exceed 50 miles an hour, and urged New Yorkers to avoid nonessential travel.

The state Transportation Department warned motorists not to exceed 45 miles an hour on the Long Island Expressway and state parkways on Long Island during the storm. Tow trucks were being positioned in Syosset, Riverhead, Medford, Hampton Bays, Central Islip, Melville and North Merrick to help clear crashes on state highways.

At the city news conference, Sanitation Commissioner Edward Grayson said that more than 700 salt spreaders had already hit the streets by Friday afternoon, and about 1,800 would be deployed overall. Fine, powdery snow and high winds could create “white-out conditions” during the storm, particularly overnight, he warned.

Mr. Grayson said his department had applied a “liquid brine pre-treatment” to more than 700 miles of city roadways before the first snow started to fall, and had plenty of salt on hand.

“Every block in New York City is on a route, and we intend to complete all routes,” he said. The department’s work force was in “mandatory staffing” with less than 10 percent of employees out, a lower rate of absences than earlier in the pandemic, he said.

Mr. Adams said he wanted to “be visible” and would visit areas of the city like Brownsville, East New York and Staten Island to monitor the storm.

“Generals don’t lead their troops from the rear,” he said.

MIAMI — The winter weather isn’t just wreaking havoc in the Northeast. In South Florida, where temperatures in some areas are currently in the low 70s, the weather is expected to plunge to the 30s this weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

The near record-breaking cold front comes as a nor’easter barrels north toward the New York area. It will likely cause blizzard-like conditions in New England, where forecasts are predicting as much as two feet of snow.

A freeze watch is in effect from late Saturday through Sunday morning in some areas of Miami-Dade County, where temperatures could be as low as 31 degrees in the Everglades, just north of Miami, the National Weather Service said. Frost and freeze conditions could kill crops.

Miami-Dade County’s emergency management department asked people to prepare for the frigid weather by protecting children and older residents. They also recommended that people dress warmly, bring potted plants and pets indoors and be careful about starting fires inside.

Earlier this week, when temperatures dropped into the 50s, people bought churros and thick hot chocolate, a tradition that is common during Miami’s coldest days. Restaurants, like Morro Castle and La Palma, can sell thousands of churros a night.

Bundled up in fluffy jackets and furry boots, locals stood in long, winding lines to get their hands on something warm, said Arletty Hernandez, 21. “It’s a Miami thing,” she said, shivering, after picking up her churros Sunday from La Palma on Southwest Eighth Street.

The National Weather Service said Friday that Central Park would get 8 to 12 inches of snow this weekend. But that forecast masks a big degree of uncertainty: It was just as likely that there would be less than six inches of snow — or more than 18.

See the range of possibilities yourself by looking up the forecast for places across the New York metro area and New England:

Collin Gross of Avon by the Sea, N.J., just south of Asbury Park, said it started to lightly snow there around 6:30 p.m. and that the storm appeared to be intensifying.

“The flakes are very thin but the winds are picking up. Nothing too crazy,” Mr. Gross, 21, said, adding that the flakes were getting bigger and starting to stick to the ground.

Mr. Gross, who is a sophomore at Rutgers University studying meteorology, posted a video on Twitter showing flakes dancing in spirals against a light.

As a weather enthusiast, he said he was looking forward to the storm.

Ever since he was a child, he said, he has been excited by the prospects of any kind of severe weather and does his own forecasting for friends and family. He recently got a weather monitoring station that he plans to put together soon.

This storm, he said, was coming at an ideal time: on the weekend when he could watch it, and when the temperatures will be low enough that the snow won’t mix with rain.

“I can’t see us getting less than a foot,” he said.