Snowfall intensifies in Northeast, with many stuck at home under blizzard warnings and travel bans

NEW YORK (AP) — Millions of people in New York City and a large swath of the northeastern U.S. were stuck at home under road travel bans and blizzard warnings Monday as heavy snow and strong winds intensified, creating whiteout conditions in the densely populated region.

Snow fell at a rate of 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.6 centimeters) an hour early Monday from New York through Massachusetts. Some areas have gotten well over a foot (30 centimeters) of snow since Sunday, along with wind gusts of over 30 mph (48 kph) and low visibility.

In New York, Long Island MacArthur Airport reported 22.5 inches (57 centimeters) of snow as of Monday morning. Parts of New York City had accumulations in the mid- to high teens, with Coney Island getting 16 inches (40.6 centimeters). Freehold, New Jersey, had 22 inches (55.8 centimeters). New London, Connecticut, and North Kingstown, Rhode Island, both got 17 inches of snow (43 centimeters).

The National Weather Service called travel conditions “nearly impossible.”

Blizzard warnings stretched from Maryland to Maine. Cellphones across New York City received wailing push alerts Sunday night announcing a ban on non-emergency travel on all streets through noon Monday because of “dangerous blizzard conditions.” Rhode Island and New Jersey implemented similar restrictions.

More than 5,000 flights in and out of the United States were canceled for Monday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Most were canceled in New York, New Jersey and Boston.

Public transit was suspended in some areas. Even DoorDash announced it was suspending deliveries in New York City overnight.

The storm caused power outages that left more than 400,000 customers in the dark along the East Coast early Monday, including about 146,000 customers in Massachusetts and 123,000 customers in New Jersey, according to PowerOutage.us, which tracks outages nationwide.

Emergencies were declared in New York, Philadelphia and other cities, as well as several states stretching from Delaware to Massachusetts as officials mobilized readiness efforts.

“The combination of heavy snowfall and strong winds will continue to produce blizzard conditions along the Northeastern Seaboard,” the weather service said Monday. “Sharply reduced visibility will make travel extremely treacherous across these areas.”

The weather service referred to the storm as a “classic bomb cyclone/nor’easter off the Northeast coast." A bomb cyclone is when a storm drops at least 24 millibars in pressure in 24 hours.

The weather service said the snow was expected to taper off by Monday afternoon.

New York City and Boston canceled public school classes for Monday, while Philadelphia will switch to online learning. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani called it the “first old-school snow day since 2019.”

“And to kids across New York City, you have a very serious mission if you choose to accept it: Stay cozy,” he said.

Meanwhile, outreach workers worked to coax homeless New Yorkers off the street and into shelters and warming centers.

Various landmarks and cultural institutions announced closures Monday, from New York's Museum of Modern Art to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. Broadway shows were canceled Sunday evening.

The weather service said the storm’s strong wind gusts could cause whiteout conditions and warned of a “Potentially Historic/Destructive Storm” southeast of the Boston-Providence corridor.

“Winds like that, combined with heavy, wet snow, are a recipe for damaged trees and prolonged power outages,” said Bryce Williams, a meteorologist with the weather service’s Boston office. “That’s what we’re most concerned with, is the combination of those extreme snow amounts with that wind.”

In addition to their robust plow operations, New York City officials recruited people to shovel snow, with some beginning work Sunday night to get an early start on the first wave of snowfall, Mamdani said.

John Berlingieri scrapped plans for a family trip to Puerto Rico. Instead he was preparing his company, Berrington Snow Management, for what could well be a mammoth task: Clearing snow from millions of square feet (meters) of asphalt surrounding shopping malls and industrial parks across Long Island.

Employees spent the last few days recharging batteries on the company’s 40 front-end loaders and replacing windshield wipers on snow-removal vehicles.

“I’m anticipating at least one week of work around the clock,” Berlingieri said. “We’re going to work 24 to 36 hours straight, sleep for a few hours and then go back.”

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Izaguirre reported from Albany, New York, and Rush reported from Portland, Oregon. Contributing were Associated Press writers Mark Kennedy in New York; Darlene Superville in Washington; and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles.