NEW YORK
1 of 10. A snow shoveler crosses a street during a winter snowstorm in Cambridge, Massachusetts January 24, 2015.
Credit: Reuters/Brian Snyder
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The first flakes ahead of a potentially historic blizzard began swirling through New York City on Monday morning, with forecasters predicting up to 3 feet (90cm) of snow in the coming day and millions of people facing snarled transportation.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a blizzard warning for New York City and surrounding areas beginning 1 p.m. EST on Monday, and warned of two days of winter storms across the East Coast, from Pennsylvania to Maine.
Airlines have canceled more than 2,000 flights so far.
"This could be the biggest snowstorm in the history of this city," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Sunday.
De Blasio told residents of America's financial capital and most populous city to stay off the roads and to "prepare for something worse than we have seen before."
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo urged people to work from home, saying the city's bus and subway systems could be closed ahead of Monday's evening commute, along with the Metro North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road as well as other commuter rail services.
The biggest snowfall on record in New York City came during the storm of Feb. 11-12, 2006, dropping 26.9 inches (68 cm), according to the city's Office of Emergency Management.
The NWS called the approaching system a "crippling and potentially historic blizzard," with many areas along the East Coast expected to be blanketed by 12 inches to 24 inches (30-60 cm) of snow. The New York City area could be the hardest hit, with lashing winds topping 50 miles per hour (81 kph) and snowfall of 30 inches (76 cm) or more in some suburbs.
Flight-tracking website Flightaware.com showed 2,117 flights canceled by Monday morning, including more than 500 at the three main airports serving New York City.
Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) has canceled at least 600 flights, while United Airlines (UAL.N) will eliminate all Tuesday flights at airports in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. The carrier will begin limiting operations on Monday night at Newark, LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy airports in the New York area, a spokeswoman said.
Southwest Airlines (LUV.N) has canceled more than 130 of 3,410 flights scheduled for Monday.
American Airlines (AAL.O) said it expected "quite a few" flights to be affected.
Cities along the heavily populated East Coast had snow plows and trucks on standby to dispense road salt.
The Greater New York Taxi Association, an organization of taxi operators in New York City, said its members will offer free taxi rides to emergency workers unable to get to work and the elderly who might be stranded by the snow.
In Philadelphia and many other cities, shoppers rushed to stores to pick up last-minute staples. Pennsylvania's Department of Transportation said it had readied 5,400 equipment operators and 2,700 trucks to work through the storm.
Philadelphia public schools as well as Catholic schools will close at noon on Monday.
In New York, de Blasio said school children could probably expect to have Tuesday off.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen and Jonathan Allen in New York, Dan Kelley in Philadalephia, Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Writing by Dan Whitcomb and Jonathan Allen; Editing by Jeremy Laurence and Jeffrey Benkoe)
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1yVf0C5
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