Category: Local news

(NEW YORK) — A highly impactful and potentially historic nor’easter is expected to quickly strengthen as it collects itself offshore near Delaware, Maryland and Virginia on Sunday, leading to major and potentially extreme impacts for millions along the I-95 corridor.

More than 50 million Americans were on alert on Sunday morning for winter storm conditions beginning later Sunday and continuing into Monday.

Blizzard warnings are in effect for more than 35 million Americans from Cape Charles, Virginia, to Dover, Delaware, up to the I-95 corridor from Philadelphia to Boston for increased confidence in snowfall of more than a foot and gusty winds that will likely cause blizzard conditions. The entire states of Delaware, New Jersey and Rhode Island were included. 

Winter storm warnings were in effect for parts of central Virginia and Maryland, east-central Pennsylvania, southern New York, northern Connecticut, west-central Massachusetts, southern New Hampshire and Vermont, and southern Maine for increased confidence of snowfall.

Some areas are expecting about 6 inches, while some areas may potentially see more than a foot, as well as gusty winds that will likely cause blowing snow and whiteout conditions.

Those conditions could hit major cities, including Baltimore; Harrisburg and Scranton, Pennsylvania; Albany, New York; Hartford, Connecticut; Concord, New Hampshire; and Portland, Maine. 

On Sunday afternoon, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a disaster declaration ahead of the evening’s storm, saying it will allow “our state agencies have every resource they need to prepare and keep people safe.”

Shapiro asked people to stay off the roads and stressed that people should take the storm seriously and seriously and stay inside.

Conditions are expected to begin to worsen in the Philadelphia area later today, the governor said.

New York City and Philadelphia were under a blizzard warning for total snowfall reaching between 12 and more than 18 inches, with potential winds gusting up to 55+ mph, causing whiteout conditions and difficult-to-impossible travel conditions later Sunday through Monday.

New York City hasn’t been under a blizzard warning since March 2017, close to a decade ago. The last such warning for Philadelphia was in January 2016, more than a decade ago.

“The snow is back,” New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on social media early on Sunday. “But New York is ready.”

At a press conference later Sunday afternoon, Mamdani announced a state of emergency for the city and a travel ban beginning at 9 p.m. Sunday and ending at 12 p.m. Monday. New York City schools will also be closed Monday, Mamdani said.

According to the National Weather Service, this is the first time that all of New Jersey has been under a blizzard warning since January 1996.

The entire state of Delaware is under a blizzard warning for the first time since Feb. 10, 2010, more than 15 years ago, according to the National Weather Service.

More than 7,400 flights have been canceled for Sunday and Monday, according to flight tracker FlightAware. Over half of all flights at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports have already been canceled ahead of the storm.

Airports in Newark, Boston, Philadelphia, D.C. and Baltimore have also seen significant cancellations. Between 88% and 93% of flights scheduled for Monday at New York airports and in Boston have been canceled as of noon Sunday.

Coastal Flood alerts were also up from coastal Delaware, Maryland and Virginia to the Jersey Shore, as well as from Long Island to the coast of southern and eastern New England for minor to moderate coastal flooding during high tide.

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