Five states declared a state of emergency on Monday as the Northeast braced for a ‘crippling and potentially historic’ storm that could bury communities from northern New Jersey to southern Maine in up to 3 feet of snow and batter areas with hurricane-strength winds.
New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island governors were taking no chances as winter storm Juno was set to dump snow at the rate of several inches per hour along with bringing winds up 80mph in some regions and creating whiteout conditions that were being described as ‘life-threatening’, by the National Weather Service.
The storm will affect a 250-mile stretch, including New York City, Philadelphia and Boston, affecting close to 60 million people across seven states. Widespread coastal flooding was expected to affect up to 11 million people starting on Monday afternoon.
Airlines were shutting down operations along the East Coast – with more than 6,000 flights canceled over the next two days. Amtrak was warning about delays and cancellations along with reduced and sometimes no services on local mass transit networks.
On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie declared states of emergencies. Governor Christie said: ‘This is a different kind of storm than we’ve had before.’
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio added: ‘This will be one of the largest blizzards in the history of New York City. People must be prepared. This is not business as usual… Prepare for something worse than we have seen before.’
He urged people to get off the streets as quickly as possible in the next few hours, adding: ‘This is going to hit very hard and very fast.’ As of Monday afternoon, a quarter of an inch of snow was coming down every ten minutes, according to weather experts.
New York’s usually busy center of Times Square was sparsely populated on Monday as commuters hurried home amid a complete shutdown in the city due to the massive storm
The snowfall began in earnest on Monday afternoon in New York City as authorities urged New Yorkers to get home and take shelter
+Brutal conditions: A woman covers her face from heavy falling snow as she makes her way through Times Square in New York City
+People wait for their train platform to be announced at Penn Station in New York as a major snowstorm set in. Travel officials said that they would be running a schedule like Thanksgiving Eve to get everyone home before the worst of the snow hit
Tthe snow flurries were increasing in New York City on Monday with officials urging people to stock up on food and water and head home early
+Heavy surf pounds the shoreline on Monday where a boardwalk once stood before it was damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. Coastal areas were bracing for high waves and hurricane-strength winds heading into tonight
Snow predictions as of Monday afternoon revealed that several feet was going to blanket the Northeast along with high winds which would create ‘life-threatening’ whiteout conditions, according to the National Weather Service
+Here it comes! New York was bracing for a severe snowstorm which was set to begin around noon on Monday and could drop up to two feet on the city and bring hurricane-strength winds. A state of emergency was announced by Governor Cuomo today
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Snow falls on pedestrians in New York City as people rushed to get home ahead of ‘life-threatening’ weather conditions that were setting in
+52New Yorkers walk through the snowfall as it began to get heavy on Monday as Mayor Bill de Blasio warned residents to get off the streets
New Yorkers were piling their grocery carts high on Monday afternoon as they headed home to bunker down ahead of this storm
A tractor-trailer jack-knifed early on Monday morning in Massachusetts as drivers were warned to avoid long journeys where possible in the ‘life-threatening’ blizzard conditions
winter storm Juno can be seen blanketing the Northeast of the U.S. in a satellite image released on Monday. Up to three feet of snow was expected across the region
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New Yorkers were taking no chances and stocking up on supplies for the impending winter storm Juno due to hit the city from this afternoon and blanket the region in snow overnight
After 11pm tonight, no cars other than emergency vehicles would be allowed on streets in the state of New York – and the Mayor de Blasio emphasized that ‘a food delivery bicycle is not an emergency vehicle’.
TIPS FOR STAYING SAFE IN DANGEROUS STORM CONDITIONS
The Red Cross published tips for staying safe in treacherous snowstorms:
- Wear layers of lightweight clothing to stay warm
- Be extremely careful if you have to shovel snow. Take frequent breaks and stay hydrated
- Watch for hypothermia and frostbite. Hypothermia symptoms include confusion, dizziness, exhaustion and severe shivering
- Watch for hypothermia and frostbite. Symptoms include numbness, flushed gray, white, blue or yellow skin discoloration, numbness, waxy feeling skin
- Don’t forget your pets – bring them indoors
The snow storm was expected to kick in with force at noon on Monday in New York City and early afternoon in New England with forecasters warning people to be where they wanted to be for 5pm on Monday to ride out the storm.
Winds topping 55 miles per hour (88 kph) were predicted to lash New York City and its suburbs, raising the potential for power outages caused by tree limbs falling on overhead utility lines.
On Monday, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo warned that residents should not take the snowstorm lightly, adding: ‘The snow combined with the wind makes it dangerous and difficult conditions’
New York City was likely to see ‘thundersnow’ – when snow collides with the dry air, resulting in lightning strikes and rolling thunder.
On Monday, Governor of Connecticut Dannel Malloy issued a statewide travel ban from 9pm this evening where 12-18 inches of snow was expected and closed schools on Tuesday.
NJ Governor Christie urged people to stay off the roads unless in absolute necessity and, in particular, when the worst conditions hit at 9pm on Monday.
The National Weather Service said roads throughout the Mid-Atlantic would be slippery and visibilities could be reduced to a quarter-mile at times.
Chaos engulfed the city as shoppers, with recent memories of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, formed long lines and emptied grocery store shelves in preparation.
There would be zero visibility on roads overnight on Monday, forecasters warned, with drivers urged to take the utmost care and avoid journeys where possible.
Governor Cuomo said on Monday that the subway would run until 7-8pm as normal, then be on a reduced service.
At 11pm tonight, the MTA subway system would shut down along with Port Authority facilities.
As of early on Monday afternoon, The Long Island Rail Road and Metro North were set to close at 11pm.
+People were reporting packed out trains on the Long Island Rail Road where trains would be running a reduced service later on Monday night
PPeople walk along a Manhattan street in heavy snow as the city braced for a forecast 24 inches of snow overnight on Monday, leaving the city with treacherous conditions. Stay home, has been the strongly-worded advice from the city’s mayor
Snow removal equipment sits on the tarmac at Logan Airport in Boston, Massachusetts ahead of a major winter storm predicted to hit the area later in the day
Whiteout: The view from Freedom Tower in New York City on Monday afternoon as heavy snow swirls battered in the Big Apple
plow travels down a city street during heavy snow in the financial district of Manhattan – the streets were quiet as most offices allowed employees to go home early for their own safety
Williamsburg Bridge and the Manhattan skyline were barely visible on Monday afternoon from Brooklyn as the whiteout conditions set in from winter snowstorm Juno
A man eats lunch in the United Nations building cafeteria as the snow storm ramped up on Monday afternoon in New York City
Metro-North will run an early getaway schedule as it does on Thanksgiving Eve, according to travel authorities.
Tractor-trailer bans were being issued on major roads in New York from 4pm, Governor Cuomo said.
Some 2,400 sanitation workers were planned to work back-to-back in 12 hours shifts, using 750 snow plows and tons of salt for the massive cleanup on about 6,000 miles of city streets – the equivalent of New York to LA and back again.
Most non-essential state employees were being sent home at 3pm on Monday in affected areas as private offices emptied out, with the majority of companies taking the severe weather warnings seriously.
All Broadway performances were canceled on Monday night in New York City.
The UN headquarters gave itself a day off on Tuesday and schools across the East Coast dismissed students early on Monday and canceled classes for Tuesday, with those in Boston staying closed until Thursday.
+States of emergency have been declared in five states as authorities warned people to get off the streets ahead of the massive storm hitting the Northeast
Commuters in New York were being urged to head home early as mass transit planned to run on reduced schedules during the worst of the storm on Monday night
In New York City, the Greater New York Taxi Association offered free cab service for emergency responders trying to get to work, and disabled and elderly residents who become stranded.
Government officials began to activate emergency centers on Sunday as professional sports teams, schools and utilities hastily revised their schedules and made preparations.
New York schools were open on Monday but expected to be closed on Tuesday, according to the mayor.
The Super Bowl-bound New England Patriots expected to be out of town by the time the storm arrives in Boston. The team plans to leave Logan Airport at 12.30pm on Monday for Phoenix, Arizona. where the temperature will reach the high 60s.
In Massachusetts, Governor Charlie Baker warned residents to prepare for roads that are ‘very hard, if not impossible, to navigate,’ power outages and possibly even a lack of public transportation.
Cape Cod was expected to see up to three feet of snow with all weather models showing at least two feet of snow across Hartford, Connecticut, Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston along with 50mph winds which will make travel treacherous.
The Massachusetts governor declared a state of emergency and warned people to stay off the roads to avoid accidents, as seen here on Monday in Southborough
Workers de-ice a plane during a light snow on the runway at LaGuardia Airport in New York early on Monday. Airlines cancelled thousands of flights into and out of East Coast airports
People wrap up warm for a chilly walk in Central Park in Manhattan, New York ahead of the approaching blizzard on Monday afternoon
A plow truck clears snow off South Church Street, in Hazleton, Pennsylvania on Monday. The area received another three-inches of snow overnight
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Chaos: Pictured left, traffic jams were backing up on Central Parkway, Queens near New York’s La Guardia airport while thousands of travelers were stranded (picture at La Guardia on Monday) after airlines canceled more than 5,000 flights
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A cyclist navigates between a New York Dept. of Sanitation truck with a snow plow attached, and cars on New York’s Sixth Avenue (left). Street cleaner Francisco Mathurine clears snow from the steps in Times Square on Monday
Several occupants of a car had to cut free around 6am on Monday morning following a collision with a snow plow in Haverford Township, Pennsylvania. Their injuries were unknown
+52Heavy snow was already blanketing parts of Pennsylvania as the Northeast of the country got ready for a severe snowstorm on Monday and hurricane-strength winds
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Stockpiling: Shelves were emptied of produce in New York City on Monday as queues at the grocery stores grew to hundreds of people
+A Massachusetts street is seen already coated with several inches of snow on Monday morning. Boston is expected to get 18 to 24 inches of snow, with up to 2 feet or more west of the city
Widespread power outages were expected and could last days, authorities across New England warned.
An early accident between a car and a snow plow was reported on Monday morning in Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, according to ABC.
A tractor-trailer jackknifed, and a beer truck a;so crashed into the median on Interstate 81 near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, during the morning commute. No injuries were reported.
Some of the occupants of the car were pinned inside and had to be cut free after the vehicle hit the snow plow’s wheel around 6.15am. Their injuries were unknown at this time.
The storm was blasting its way up the Atlantic coast and would dump huge quantities of snow from Washington, D.C., to Maine, with New York City and the surrounding areas hardest-hit.
At the same time, New York City was set to face hurricane-strength winds topping 55mph. The Weather Channel predicted that gusts could reach up to 75mph in Montauk, Long Island.
New York Governor Cuomo said: ‘I urge residents to put safety first and plan ahead to protect themselves and others throughout the duration of this snowstorm.’
Many New Yorkers reacted to the abysmal weather predictions – which could bring the worst storm since records began in 1872 – by cleaning out their local grocery stores.
Shoppers were pictured lining up around the block in Manhattan just to get inside so they could grab hold of rapidly-diminishing supplies.
The New York City-area airports were set to be especially hard-hit by the weather.
One resident on the coast in New England was taking no chances and boarding up the windows of his home ahead of the predicted historic nor’easter on Monday
Snow was falling gently in Brooklyn, New York on Monday morning as the city braced for much heavier fall around lunchtime and into the night
Deserted: An abnormally quiet Newark Airport in New Jersey on Monday morning as hundreds of arriving and departing flights had already been canceled
According to the FlightAware monitoring service, more than 1,800 services have been canceled on Monday, with LaGuardia, Newark Liberty and JFK airports the worst affected.
FlightAware said more than 40 per cent of all inbound flights to those three hubs were cancelled tomorrow, with a third of departures from Newark and La Guardia shut down. Flights leaving JFK would be cut by around 20 per cent.
SUPERSTORM JUNO: DISRUPTION STATE-BY-STATE
NEW YORK
Roads – Total travel restriction ban after 11pm on all New York roads. Only emergency vehicles permitted
Schools – All schools closed on Tuesday, all after-school programs from Monday
Airports – 6,000 flights cancelled from all three New York airports so far. Most flights were
Trains – Limited subway service from 8pm; Metro-North and LIRR start shutting down around 11pm;
The subway trains will be shut down from 11pm on Monday along with Port Authority services.
Other – Garbage collection likely cancelled through Wednesday; Broadway theaters canceled all shows
Monday night home games were postponed for the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets while comedian Louis C.K. nixed his final show set for Tuesday at Madison Square Garden
MASSACHUSETTS
500 National Guard were deployed
Roads – Closed from midnight Monday
Schools – Closures to be decided
Trains – MBTA shutdown from midnight; no Tuesday service
Airports – Logan International Airport will have no flights in or out from 7pm
Other – Boston marathon bomber and Aaron Hernandez trials both delayed
CONNECTICUT
Roads – Closed from 9pm Monday
Schools – Some districts closing schools Tuesday
Trains – CT Transit service suspended from 8pm; more Metro-North trains between 1pm and 5pm
RHODE ISLAND
Roads – closed from 11pm
Schools – closing on a case by case basis
New Jersey and New England were under severe weather warnings with authorities telling residents to avoid making long journeys in life-threatening conditions.
The National Weather Service in Boston said that ‘travel may become impossible’.
The storm was expected to bring winds of 65mph in places. Some 57million people are believed to be in the path of the storm.
New York City’s current record for snowfall is 26.9inches in February 2006. The most extreme predictions for the coming storm exceed that by almost ten inches.
‘This could be a storm the likes of which we have never seen before,’ New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio at a news conference Sunday.
‘Don’t underestimate this storm. Prepare for the worst,’ he said as he urged residents to plan to leave work early Monday.
Boston is expected to get 18 to 24 inches of snow, with up to 2 feet or more west of the city, and Philadelphia could see up to a foot, the weather service said.
The Washington area expected only a couple of inches, with steadily increasing amounts as the storm heads north.
‘We do anticipate very heavy snowfall totals,’ said Bob Oravec, lead forecaster with the weather service in College Park, Maryland.
‘In addition to heavy snow, with blizzard warnings, there’s a big threat of high, damaging winds, and that will be increasing Monday into Tuesday. A lot of blowing, drifting and such.’
Wind gusts of 75 mph or more are possible for coastal areas of Massachusetts, and up to 50 mph further inland, Oravec said.
Towns along New Jersey’s coast were expected to be the hardest hit by the storm, and Jersey shore communities were watching out for flooding.
The storm was expected to cause moderate flooding in oceanfront communities between midnight and 1am on Tuesday.
Back bay areas tend to flood several hours after the oceanfront high tide. The weather service says some property damage could occur, and tides and wave action will cause severe beach erosion.
Parts of the shore that were hit hard by Superstorm Sandy now have man-made dunes, rocks or metal walls. But other cities still have not agreed to protective dunes, and some are fighting the state’s plans for them in court.
The weekend storm which brought snow and slush to the Northeast – the first real snow of the season for many areas – was just a warmup. The storm promised treacherous travel by both land and air along the busy northeast corridor.
Preparations large and small were in effect in New York City. A Manhattan Home Depot store sold about twice as many shovels over the weekend as it normally does.
Transit officials hoping to keep the subways running smoothly planned to use modified subway cars loaded with de-icing fluid to spray the third rail that powers trains.
Farther north, a blizzard watch is in effect for Boston from Monday night through early Wednesday. Wind gusts of 60 mph or more are possible on Cape Cod, forecasters said.
Wyatt Baars, manager of the Charlestown Ace Hardware in Boston, sold out of his bags of ice-melting pellets but said a New Hampshire distributor was delivering more.
‘Everybody is preparing for the storm,’ he said. ‘When we have something this big on the horizon, everybody comes in for the ice melt, snow shovels, snow brooms.’
Snow plow driver Al Laplant expected to be out clearing roads of Simsbury, Connecticut from Monday, just as he has been doing for more than two decades.
‘We’ll be out there until the storm’s over and then at least three hours after cleaning up,’ he said as he attended a home show in Hartford. ‘We’ll be out there through the whole storm.’
But even for a plow driver, the snow is no cake walk.
‘It’s kind of exhilarating,’ he said. ‘But at the same time, I’ve been doing it for 27 years, so I’m kind of tired of it myself.’
MORE THAN 5,000 US FLIGHTS CANCELED
More than 5,000 flights in and out of East Coast airports have been canceled as a major snowstorm packing up to three feet of snow barrels down on the region.
United Airlines canceled all flights in Boston, New York and Philadelphia. JetBlue, whose flights are largely in the Northeast, has already canceled about a third of its entire schedule.
About half of all flights out of New York’s LaGuardia Airport were called off on Monday, and about 60 per cent of flights heading into the airport were scratched.
In all, airlines canceled more than 2,680 flights, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. More than 2,900 flights have been scrapped for Tuesday.
Problems in the Northeast are rippling outward across the country.
In West Palm Beach, Florida, where temperatures are expected to be in the 70s Monday, about 30 percent of all flights have been canceled.
Fort Lauderdale and Orlando are also reporting major cancellations.
Most major airlines are allowing customers whose flights are canceled in the next few days to book new flights without paying a penalty.
Customers ticketed on flights to dozens of Eastern airports are generally eligible for the allowance, though specific terms vary by airline.
+A worker in the Northeast stands on top of a huge stockpile of salt as authorities were taking no chances with forecasts of a severe storm
HOW NYC HAS BEEN BURIED IN SNOW AGAIN AND AGAIN – BUT THE COMING STORM COULD BE THE BIGGEST YET
In more than a hundred years of record-keeping, snowfall in New York City has only cleared the 20-inch mark a handful of times.
However, the 36inches predicted in the storm now approaching the city would dwarf even the current record-holder. Below are the top five recorded snowfall figures for a single storm:
1. February 11-12, 2006: 26.9inches
2. December 26-27, 1947: 25.8inches
3. March 12-14, 1888: 21.0inches
4. February 25.26, 2010: 20.9inches
5. January 7-8, 1996: 20.2inches
5Record-holder: A storm in 2006 which dropped almost 27inches of snow in New York City is the current record-holder. Above, a man walks his two golden retrievers through the blizzard
Hard clean-up: The fourth-worst snowstorm, in 2006, is pictured above, with workers using snow blowers to clean up Park Avenue
The older storms, from 1888 and 1947, were deadly for many and are remembered as disasters in the city, while later storms made less of a dent because of modern technology and greater preparedness.
The 1888 blast coated the boroughs, and caused chaos by disrupting power lines and other utilities, which were later moved underground as a response.
In 1947, the storm came by surprise as it approached from the sea, where there was little infrastructure for weather warnings. Snow was piled up and dumped in the sewers or rivers from Manhattan, but districts further from water struggled for days with the huge pileups.
Storms in the 1990s and 2000s still caused widespread chaos but were handled more deftly. The 2010 storm canceled a third of all flights from New York City. Costs associated with cleaning up after the 2006 storm reportedly hit the tens of millions.
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Blizzards past: The above image shows Grand Central Depot in 1888, when devastating snows ravaged the city
Striking again: 25.8inches of snow fell on Central Park in 1947, which came as a surprise because it approached from over the sea
Read more: THE DAILY MAIL
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what a bunch of wimps, lmao.