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Northeast Responding To Snow, Wind And Cold

A file photo of a snow-covered Central Avenue in Albany.
Jim Levulis
/
WAMC
The scene outside WAMC in Albany, NY Thursday morning.

Much of the Northeast is experiencing bitter cold and blowing snow. Many schools, museums and government offices have closed.

The wind is whipping and the streets are slick in downtown Albany, New York. In New York City, Governor Andrew Cuomo held a press conference this morning detailing expected snowfall totals for regions of the state.

“We’re going to have a state of emergency for the entire downstate region- starting Westchester [County] south and Long Island,” Cuomo said. “In terms of the snowfall, the predictions have increased where we believe there will be more snow. Up to 6 to 10 inches in New York City, 9 to 12 inches on Long Island, 4 to 8 in Westchester.”

Cuomo says sustained winds of 25 to 35 miles per hour with gusts up to 60 are adding to the difficulty of clearing roads of snow for the thousands of workers responding. 

“This state of emergency means unless it is essential for you to be out on the roads and moving around today, you should not be,” said Cuomo.

The governor held a second briefing this afternoon on Long Island.

“The thrust of the storm should be through by about four or five o’clock,” Cuomo said this afternoon. “Then comes the frigid weather and that’s going to be the challenge over the evening hours.” 

Joe Lhota, chair of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, says rail travel north of New York City is being affected.

“Metro-North is also working,” Lhota said. “We’ve got a full complement of employees of up there. We’re having a wind situation on the Hudson line so some of our stations are being bypassed because of trees that have come down. They’re being fixed as we speak. I encourage everyone to look at our website, mta.info, or our various apps to look at the schedules and to see what’s going on because it’s changing from moment to moment. But, we’re fully prepared and we’re doing everything we can to clean up the tracks and the ice so that we will have as close to a normal situation on our evening trips as possible.”

Peter Pan canceled all of its Northeast bus service Thursday. It is scheduled to resume Friday. In Kingston, Citibus suspended service at 12:30 p.m.

As of mid-morning, Albany International Airport was open and operating. The airport says airlines have canceled 13 departing flights to major East Coast hubs including Boston, Newark, Philadelphia and Washington due to the storm. Severe weather at New York’s JFK Airport resulted in one flight from San Francisco being diverted to Albany. A second flight from London to JFK also diverted to Albany, and JFK airport closed due to blowing snow. Governor Cuomo said La Guardia airport is canceling more than 95 percent of flights.

Meanwhile to the east, the National Weather Service is forecasting more than a foot of snow in Boston including hurricane force winds along coastal Massachusetts. The city has declared a snow parking emergency. At the western end of the Bay State, the cities of Pittsfield and North Adams have declared snow emergencies. More than 3,000 state transportation workers are responding. Chris Besse, with the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, says there is a potential for power outages.

“From a power outage perspective, we really encourage people to think about if their power goes out what they may need to stay safe,” Besse said. “For most people, that probably means leaving their home. Unless they have an alternate heat source of some kind that doesn’t rely on electricity that they can use to warm up their home, people probably won’t be able to ride out cold temperatures like this without power and may need to go to a friend, family member or local emergency shelter if necessary.” 

A winter weather advisory and wind chill warning are up for much of Vermont. Wind chill values from 20 below to 40 below are being forecast. Snow accumulations of 3 to 6 inches, with localized amounts up to 8 inches are expected.

In Connecticut, Governor Dannel Malloy says state police have extra units on the roads and more than 1,500 National Guardsmen are ready to support emergency operations. Around noon, Malloy said Eversource and United Illuminating were reporting more than 1,000 customers without power.

“And more are expected throughout the day as conditions worsen and the storm progresses,” Malloy said. “Our utilities are responding where conditions safely allow. The snow is expected to end during the evening between 6 and 9 p.m. however there will be some blowing and drifting of snow.”

More than 600 state plow trucks and some 250 private contractors are clearing roads in Connecticut.

Jim is WAMC’s Associate News Director and hosts WAMC's flagship news programs: Midday Magazine, Northeast Report and Northeast Report Late Edition. Email: jlevulis@wamc.org