New York — A fast-intensifying storm triggered blizzard warnings Saturday in New York, New Jersey and Boston, as communities along the East Coast braced for the arrival of heavy snow and damaging winds on Sunday.
The National Weather Service increased its assessment of the potential severity of the storm, which was expected to be milder just days ago.
The National Weather Service said one to two feet of snow (about 30 to 61 centimeters) was likely in many areas, and it issued blizzard warnings for New York City, Long Island, Boston and coastal communities in New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. She added that flooding is also possible in parts of New York and New Jersey.
“Even though we’re having a lot of these Northeast areas producing heavy snow and strong impacts, it’s been several years since we’ve seen one of this size across such a large area in this densely populated part of the country,” said Cody Snell, a meteorologist with the service’s Weather Prediction Center.
Snell said the storm will reach areas around Washington on Sunday morning before spreading toward Philadelphia and New York City and arriving in Boston in the evening.
The weather service said the storm could start with rain in some places before intensifying, with heavy snow expected to fall overnight and up to 2 inches (5 cm) of snow per hour at times in some areas, before subsiding by Monday afternoon.
The storm, with steady winds of 25 to 35 mph (40 to 56 kilometers per hour), “will make travel dangerous, if not impossible. Fallen tree branches and power outages are likely due to the snow load and strong winds,” the weather service warned.
Officials were quick to prepare for the storm, which meteorologists believed days ago would have a very limited impact.
New York Mayor Zahran Mamdani said that the city will expand the efforts it made to deal with the significant snowfall weeks ago. But officials refrained from making a decision on opening schools on Monday at the moment.
“We saw on Friday that there was a forecast that we would face 3 to 4 inches of snow,” Mamdani said. “That quickly changed.” “So we want to make sure we’re making a decision based on up-to-date and accurate information.”
He said New York has brought in additional snow removal equipment from outside the city and plans to increase the use of geocoding to track bus stops and crosswalks that need snow removal.
As the storm approached, John Berlingieri canceled plans for a family trip to Puerto Rico to prepare his company, Berrington Snow Management, for what could be a massive task: clearing snow from millions of square feet of asphalt surrounding shopping malls and industrial parks across Long Island.
Employees spent the past few days recharging batteries in the company’s 40 front-end loaders and replacing windshield wipers on snowplow vehicles, before taking a break Saturday.
“I expect at least one week of working around the clock,” Berlingeri said. “We’ll work 24 to 36 hours straight, sleep for a few hours and then come back.”
The storm approached just as the icy remains of the blizzard that had struck the area weeks earlier were finally melting.
Officials in Atlantic City, New Jersey, urged residents and casino visitors to stay off the streets, especially in low-lying neighborhoods prone to flooding.
“I can go on probably 20 streets where we know we’re going to get water and there’s going to be snow on top of that,” said Scott Evans, the city’s fire chief and emergency management coordinator. “So you won’t be able to see him until it’s too late, so please stay home.”
Many churches have canceled Sunday services and other activities. To compensate, St. Veronica Parish in Howell, New Jersey, added an additional Mass on Saturday evening.
“Please stay safe, avoid non-essential travel, and keep each other in prayer during the storm,” Pastor Peter James Alindogan posted online.
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Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, Julie Walker in New York, and Larry Neumeister in Brick Township, New Jersey, contributed.