A winter storm piles snow and causes dangerous conditions along the East Coast

By Deepa Shivaram

Published January 29, 2022 at 3:27 PM EST

People walk through the snow in Harvard Square on Saturday in Cambridge, Mass. A powerful winter storm brought blinding blizzard conditions with high winds to the Northeast.

Updated January 29, 2022 at 2:13 PM ET

Dangerous blizzard condition and heavy snow are pounding the coastal Northeast U.S. on Saturday, with travel disrupted and more than 100,000 customers without power.

Total snowfall is expected to be more than 12 inches in most of the Northeast coast and 24 inches in Massachusetts, including the Boston area. Snowfall totals as of Saturday have been difficult to calculate because of the conditions but reports show that in some areas of Massachusetts, snow is falling at a rate of 3-4 inches per hour. The National Weather Service in Boston says there are reports of more than 12 inches of snow coming in from southeast Massachusetts and eastern Connecticut.

By 9 a.m. Saturday morning, nearly 6 inches of snow had accumulated in New York City's Central Park. In parts of Long Island, the totals already exceed a foot of snow.

White-out conditions are seen at Government Center Station in Boston as winter storm weather brings blizzard conditions with high winds. More than 100,000 are without power in Massachusetts as of Saturday afternoon.

In Tuckerton, N.J., an estimated 16 inches of snow had fallen by 11 a.m. on Saturday. As far south as Maryland, 14 inches was recorded in Ocean Pines.

In parts of Connecticut, wind gusts have been more than 60 mph and snow is falling at a rate of 2-3 inches per hour.

Travel in the region has also been severely disrupted. More than 3,500 flights within, into and out of the United States have been canceled on Saturday, according to Flight Aware. More than 90% of flights out of Boston Logan, LaGuardia and Newark airports have been canceled.

And Amtrak trains operating along the East Coast between Washington, D.C. and Boston have been canceled.

The National Weather Service says the storm is a result of "bombogenesis," which occurs when a "midlatitude cyclone rapidly intensifies, dropping at least 24 millibars over 24 hours," according to NOAA. The result is a "bomb cyclone."

Satellite images show a classic "comma-shape" system, which the NWS says is indicative of a maturing cyclone.

Extremely low temperatures Saturday night into Sunday are expected, along with dangerous wind chills.

Power outages are likely to worsen throughout Saturday. In Massachusetts, 117,000 did not have power as of early Saturday afternoon.

Boston Superintendent of Streets Mike Brohel recommended that residents to hold off on travel until Saturday night so city workers can clean the streets up as much as possible as the storm starts to slow down.

"Allowing the plows to work and operate is really paramount. My best advice and what I hope for is that folks stay off the road."