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Subscribe to RSSSnow and hurricane-force winds are slated to hit the Northeast this weekend. Residents in the tri-state area are scrambling to get ready after last year's unusually dry and mild winter. NBC's Ron Mott reports.
Updated at 3:07 a.m. ET: A crippling and potentially historic winter storm barreled toward the Northeast on Thursday, threatening tens of millions of people with 2 feet of snow. Boston canceled school and braced for one of its worst blizzards of all time.
Airlines encouraged fliers to change their plans and get out of the way. There were already delays of more than two hours at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, where tangles can snarl air traffic across the country. More than 2500 flights had been cancelled by early Friday, according to flightstats.com.
The culprits were a so-called clipper system moving through the Upper Midwest and a low-pressure system headed for the waters off New England. When they converge, probably late Friday, they are expected to sock the region with its heaviest snow in at least two years, and perhaps much longer.
“When this hits, it’s going to come down very hard,” said Tom Niziol, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel. “This is something we haven’t seen in a while, particularly in New England.”
The National Weather Service put the New York City area and Long Island under a blizzard warning and said those areas could get more than a foot of snow. Earlier in the day, the weather service warned that travel in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island could become nearly impossible.
Full coverage from The Weather Channel
Forecasts called for as much as 9 inches of snow across central Michigan, a foot and a half in the Hudson Valley region of New York, and 2 feet or more across coastal New England. Possible hurricane-force winds off Massachusetts and Rhode Island also made flooding a threat.
In Boston, the storm had the potential to take out century-old records. The city’s biggest snowstorms since 1892 were a 27.5-inch blast in February 2003 and a 27.1-inch dumping exactly 35 years ago, in 1978. Mayor Thomas Menino closed city schools for Friday and pleaded for common sense.
The snow is expected to pick up early Friday afternoon and by Saturday at 8 a.m. blizzard conditions will be in full force along several major cities in the Northeast, from New York City to Portland. The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore reports.
“Stay off the streets of our city,” he said. “Basically, stay home.”
Light to moderate snow is expected to spread through the Great Lakes on Thursday and could reach as far east as parts of New England and New York City by Thursday night, according to forecasters for The Weather Channel.
Snow should begin Friday in Boston and Hartford, Conn., and grow heavy at times during the day in New York, New England and parts of Pennsylvania, the forecasters said.
The most intense part of the storm was expected to hit Friday night and Saturday, with as much as 3 inches of snow falling per hour in coastal New England, including Boston, Hartford and Portland, Maine.
By Saturday evening, snow should taper off in Boston and the storm is forecast to pull off the coast of Maine by Sunday morning, The Weather Channel said.
RELATED: Detailed storm timeline from The Weather Channel
In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the city was readying plows and said crews would work extended shifts.
“It’s been a quiet winter, but we knew that February could be a tough one,” said the city’s sanitation commissioner, John Doherty.
For at least some people there, the storm was a chance to profit.
“Shoveling, cleaning cars, anything you need me to do,” Isaac Morales told NBC affiliate WHDH in Boston. “I already have rock salt. I already have shovels. I’ve got extra bodies. I’ve got everything so I’m all set.”
But for survivors of Hurricane Sandy, including thousands of people still displaced and many more with disrupted lives, it was more serious. A much smaller snowstorm followed Sandy in late October.
“People were just miserable, unhappy, and it started to get cold,” Annie Petraro of Long Island told NBC New York. “Things just weren’t good. And now it’s freezing, it’s gonna snow.”
The Long Island Power Authority, which was strongly criticized for a slow response to the hurricane, said that it was planning for this one and making sure it had enough people working and enough supplies.
More than 130 flights into and out of O’Hare were canceled Thursday, and more than 70 were already canceled for Friday, according to FlightAware.com. More than 400 flights into and out of Newark Liberty International Airport were canceled for Friday, as were 100 for Boston Logan.
American, Delta, United and other major airlines said they would waive their fees to change flights, which can run to $150, for people going through major airports in the Northeast, including Logan in Boston and LaGuardia and Kennedy in New York.
Amtrak canceled some runs of its Downeaster train line, which runs from Brunswick, Maine, south to Boston.
RELATED: Travelers brace for ‘monster storm’
Ski resorts were excited by the prospect of a major snowstorm.
“It is perfect timing because it will just remind everybody that it is winter, it’s real, and get out and enjoy it,” Tom Meyers, marketing director for Wachusett Mountain Ski Area in Massachusetts, told The Associated Press.
Boston Mayor Menino declares a snow emergency, urging people to stay home and canceling school.
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This is just more proof of global warming.
No it isn't, it's winter and cold air meets up with warmer moist air, and...like snow happens.
The public has been left ill prepared for the realities of Northern Hemisphere winter, which has been punishing just about everywhere (nearly all of Eurasia) for the last several years. Solar physicists predicted intense winters and a return of Little Ice Age conditions several years ago:
Global cooling is real and it's happening now.
I agree that "the public has been ill prepared for the realities of Northern Hemisphere winter" or for the realities of much of anything else for that matter, but some of the problem (besides current ownership and control of the media) might be caused by the fact that "experts" are being overwhelmed by a vast amount of new data that just wasn't available in the past, and we are only beginning to come to grips with some of the wider fluctuations in weather and climate over longer periods of time, including seasonal movements of stars and galaxies over increments of space and time that still go beyond the limits of normal comprehensiion.
Instead of joking about collisions between cold air and hot air maybe we should pay closer attention to the reasons why some people limit indices of global warming to atmospheric carbon dioxide and why others seem to think we're heading for another Ice Age.
I find this hard to believe myself, but there have been a point in my own lifetime when most people considered themselves up to date believing that there be might be more than one solar system and that what we call the milky way galaxy constituted the entire physical universe. I find that hard to believe now, as I was only a little boy when people were telling me that.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. Plow drivers need money too.
It's Feb 7th and there is a winter strom in the Northeast!!!!!!
No Phucking Way!!!!!
Can't wait until July so we can hear about the heat & rain...
I can wait for summer. My basement is full of books (all nonfiction) and this basement floods when it rains. I could hook up a water pump to a garden hose and power it with a bicycle, and maybe keep it above the pallets, but doubt if I'll get any of the necessary "round tuits" between now and next July to make the system operational. I'm gambling that the one coming in tomorrow will be cold enough to stay solid and/or that it will also hit further south (like New York) as was the case for Sandy.
May there be no loss of life and damage to infrastructure and Houses. All the precautions must be taken in Facing for the storm. GOD Bless the Americans. GOD BLESS THE USA.
Kevin Valentine Moraes
Mira Road (Thane)
I hope everyone makes it thru this okay. I know the NE is use to weather like this. In SC just an inch would put us out for days. Good luck all and God Bless.
What a sweet message, Carol! Can you imagine how nice these boards would be if most of the posters were so polite? Messages like yours begin to restore my faith in my fellow citizens.
Hope you have a really lovely weekend! We'll be snowshoeing & drinking hot chocolate up here!
IIIiiiieeeeeeee - we're all gonna die.
Or live.
I have lived my entire 56 years in Boston, and this is not as unusual as a lot of folks think. We don't get too rattled over snow, its the bad stuff that can come with it, like storm surge along the coastal communities, and of course, lose of electricity. I will get extra gas for the snowblower, get some extra provisions, and pray that we don't lose power. We have been fortunate the last couple years, as far as snow accumulation. But, every now and then, we get a foot or two, and handle it just fine.
I was in my 20s when we had the Great blizzard of 78. It was a blast! I was fortunate to live in Harvard Square Cambridge, and some of the clubs and bars were able to open. There was a 35 foot high HUGE pile of snow in the center of the square. Hundreds of Harvard students had the best time playing "King of the Hill" My wife, a Nurse just graduated from Nursing School, was picked up, and taken to the Boston Hospital she worked in, by the National Guard!! She ended up working 24/7 for the next four days.. (she didn't have such a blast)
But for most, 1978 was an awesome party... as long as you didn't own a home in Scituate ..
Bring it on!!
Yes Shawn! Alot of good memories from that storm. But I'm sure a lot of people lost alot too. My company sent us home early and we thought it was ridiculous but shortly after we got home it got really bad and we were glad to be there. As unprepared as we were. The next several days we had to walk everywhere and carry groceries. Took me two days to shovel my sidewalk, three to shovel out my car, but it took the city over a week to get to my street. Thanks to our weathermen we now have the chance to be prepared.
There is climate change.... It's called weather patterns. Been going on for a long time. Pin heads.
To everything turn turn turn
There is a season turn turn turn
And a time for every purpose under Heaven
DocHolliday-2979123
+++++++++++++++
Don't those wimps get snow all the time up there?
My southern redneck town got 16'' on Christmas night. It was a mess and caused a lot of problems. I have a 4WD vehicle so it didn't bother me. Then it melted.
End of story.
Please remember that this is media hype at it's finest. We're here in northern NJ and if it snows, it snows and if it doesn't, it doesn't.
End of story.
Now the weather folks are naming winter storms...anything to make a storm bigger than it may be. Back in the "dark ages" winter storms were nothing but good "sledding" for a few days, and don't drive over 20 mph anywhere. The snow wasn't that bad; just the ice underneath made driving your car "challenging".
That was something the Weather Channel started this year naming winter storms. NOAA and the rest of the meteorologists have dissed this as stupid.
What I find amazing is that they don't give the winter storms a name until they are east of the Mississippi River. You can always find a forecast you like, depending on who you listen to. Clippers here in MN are very fast moving storms and are through in a few hours, hence the word "clipper", not a three-day storm. This is to be expected living in the north, a choice we make.
NBC blows it again, Headlins 2 feet of snow, maps show 17 inches DUH.... I was in Beverly during storm of 78, stuck at home for a week before front end loader did our street, some drifts to 6 feet !
Gee, it's only February, still winter, what in the heck happens at winter time. It snows, and yes, you have snow storms, especially in the northern states. Get over it, it happens every year. It's not something new.
If you don't like living in snow, then move the heck out of the place where it snows in the winter. Isn't that hard to figure out. Bunch of cry babies it seems like.
Your mistaken, SallyAnn, we don't cry about it at all. I think its the media that makes it look like we get all rattled about blizzards, we really don't. We still have fun with it. (as long as you don't have to be somewhere, or drive in it) just enjoy the white stuff.. most folks I know, snowshoe, cross country or downhill ski, pull thier kids and grandkids around in the sleds, and just try to have fun with it. We New Englanders don't cry about snow, at least nobody I know does. It dosen't last long. And I'm sure they don't cry about it in the Midwest either. Its just media hype. We (most do) love where we are fortunate to live, and deal with it just fine. But your right, if you don't like it, move...you won't be missed!
SallyAnn, wrong. New Englanders are a tough bunch, we enjoy winters, but we recognize the need to be prepared. I lived through the Blizzard of '78 and the storm that came a couple of days later and added 18 inches to our already high snow levels. Then we didn't know it was coming until that morning, today we have computers that tell us days in advance.
Whine? Hell NO; WINE! Oh and don't forget the fire in the woodstove to cuddle up in front of!
And BTW SallyAnn. I have travelled extensively for my job. Been to most of our contiguous fifty states and several foreign countries and I have NEVER been to anywhere that I would rather live than New England. Love to visit but always look forward to coming home. Can you say that?
Yes Don, I can to a point. I have NOT visited all of the lower 48, but what I have been in have been interesting, beautiful scenery, but I am very glad to get back to southwest WA. This is, IMO, Gods country. A hour, maybe hour 1/2, depending on traffic, from the Pacific Ocean, 1/2 hr or less to the mountains, all kinds of trails to hike, waterfalls to see, and very beautiful scenery.
And the salmon fishing is awesome, and so is the hunting, if a person is into that. What a thrill to hook into a 20+salmon, and fight it for around 30 minutes until you can land it. Or having a black bear in your sights, that also is something to behold. But like I said, it's wonderful if you are into those things.
N.Dak is also wonderful in the late summer and early fall. Wouldn't want to live there in the winter, it gets way too cold for me, and way too much snow for me. I do enjoy winter sports, but I don't have to live in the snow 24/7 either. I was told once that the state bird for N. Dak is the mosquito. Don't know if it's true, but they sure have a bunch of them, and they are hungry. Actually I believe the state bird is the meadowlark, and my cousin was telling me one of his fibs.
Every state has it's good and bad, and cuddling up in front of a woodstove sounds interesting. Have to try that sometime. But enjoy your snow and stay safe.
Back in The Great Blizzard of 78, then Governor, Mike Dukakis, declared a "State of Emergency" for all of Massachusetts. If you were not a first responder, a doctor or nurse, fire fighter or cop, you were forbidden from being on the roads. They did send the National Guard out to get nessesary personel where they were needed. It was just a different time. The equipment was no where near what it is today. Tractor trailers were abandoned on the interstates. It was a mess. The snow removal took well over a week. They started out trying to plow, and keep things moving, but it quickly became fruitless. Even some of the plows were abandoned on the roads.
I'd love to relive those days. It would be handled different today, with the better equipment. Snow is fun (once your finished with the shoveling and snowblowing)
Bring it on!!!
Slight difference between 4 and 43 inches of snow. Wouldn't it be easier to say, "We just don't know?"
Will somebody shoot that lying a$$ groundhog.
GROUNDHOG..the other white meat
Here In Pennsylvania Dutch country we like to grind it up with other dead things into scrapple. Goes great with AP cake and eggs for breakfast
So the weather forecasters have been wanring for a week now a storm is coming, Geck, they even named it. Can't wait to see all the "trapped" people begging for gov't help...
So the weather forecasters have been warning for a week now a storm is coming, Heck, they even named it. Can't wait to see all the "trapped" people begging for gov't help...
So the gov't shouldn't help us? They send billions to other countries, why shouldn't they help some of their own citizens?
In my humble opinion; you take care of your family FIRST and what is left is given to others.
Sorry, but your comment makes you sound like a pissant.
Friday night I would not want to be in the Boston area and 100+ Miles surrounding it. JUST SAYING,
I've lived in New England all of my life. When I was young (1950s) we never knew what was coming. Computer models? Huh? So today, even if they might be wrong I would rather hear what may come and be prepared rather than be out on Rt 128 and stranded (as in the blizzard of '78).
So if you live in an area where they are predicting more than a foot of snow possible I would suggest that you take responsibility for yourself; get gas for your snowblower or buy a shovel, stock up on food and water, get a couple of movies to watch, plan on spending hours outside clearing driveways, and most importantly stay home Friday and keep your kids home (ie keep your loved ones closeby). If you are in emergancy response (doctor, nurse, fire, EMT, Police, etc) plan on spending the night at you hospital/station, etc.
Let's hope they are wrong about the 43 inch prediction in the report above! But if it happens let's be prepared.
Gopher: Mascot of U of MN's sports team. The end.
Its funny, on some of our Boston newchannels, they were saying we could get anything from 4 = 6 inches, OR from 18 to 24 inches...WTF, thats a hell of a variable! They don't have this down yet.
Whatever we get, we'll handle it just fine. At least its over the weekend, that keeps a lot of cars off the roads, and helps with the cleanup.
Down here in NJ, store shelves have already become barren of milk, eggs, bread and other items, seeing that the 1 to 3 inches (if it happens) of snow is on it's way...
Why didn't we listen to the Democrats? Why didn't we give up OUR SUV's, gas guzzlers, and spend 10 grand on those roof top solar panels to stop that evil global warming?
Now we have to deal with a snowstorm that will dump heavy snow in areas like ski resorts, that are SUPPOSED to get this kind of weather!!!
Damn it all!!!
Just saying...
Sincerely,
A dis-satisfied customer and voter...
Here's a site for ya, so you can get the big picture from on high. Take your choice of satellites. Make it a Favorite site.
http://www.goes.noaa.gov/