1:04 p.m. EST: New York City mayor Bill de Blasio announced that schools in the nation’s largest district will be closed Tuesday for the storm. Boston Public Schools canceled classes on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
11:00 a.m. EST: Logan Airport in Boston announced that it expects no flights in or out of Boston after 7 p.m.
9:00 a.m. EST: It is snowing lightly in New York City.
It’s going to be a rough few days for the northeast US.
A massive winter storm is expected to bring high winds and up to 30 inches of snow to the northeast. The megalopolis from Boston to Philadelphia will be affected, with the worst of the storm hitting eastern Massachusetts.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said it could be a “storm the likes of which we have never seen before.” The National Weather Service is calling it a “crippling and potentially historic blizzard.” NBC is calling it “bombogenesis”—a portmanteau of “weather bomb” and “cyclogenesis,” which refers to the circulation in the atmosphere that takes place when a warm front meets a cold front.
Here’s what to expect:
The storm
Snow will begin falling early on Monday. The storm will escalate Monday night and stretch into Tuesday, with wind gusts reaching 40 to 70 miles per hour. Blizzard warnings are in effect for coastal areas from New Jersey to Maine. Winter storm warnings are in effect for many other areas, including Philadelphia.
Boston and New York are expected to get 18 to 24 inches 0f snow. Philadelphia is expected to get 12 to 16 inches.
The impact
Don’t expect to get out much. The National Weather Service advised that “all unnecessary travel is discouraged beginning Monday afternoon.”
Over 3,500 US flights Monday and Tuesday have been canceled, according to the Weather Channel. Wind and heavy snow will make visibility practically zero, and driving extremely dangerous.
The New York Times has a handy dashboard that will be updated with the status of schools and transportations systems; other localities might have these as well. But in general, expect just about everything to be delayed or canceled Monday afternoon onward.