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Around 63 million people were under winter alerts from Tennessee to Maine as residents in cities including Philadelphia, Boston and New York City are expecting anywhere from 9 to 20 inches of snow.
Roughly 26 million people were under blizzard warnings from Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon across New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said federal resources were at the ready. “We ask that you stay home, stay safe, stay warm, and stay off the roads,” Noem said on X.
The storm is forecast to take shape Sunday as a low-pressure system forms off the North Carolina coast and moves north-northeast and causes a rapid drop in air pressure associated with a “bomb cyclone” storm.
Its form, described by the National Weather Service as a swirling “comma,” will start with light snow and even some rain before strengthening to produce increasingly heavy bands of snow for the New York City area, it said.
“Bands of moderate to heavy snow will rotate from the southeast to the northwest during the evening into the overnight as the cyclone rapidly deepens,” the weather service said in a forecast discussion Saturday evening.
Heavy snow and strong wind gusts will target the mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Appalachians. A cold rain will continue over parts of the Carolinas to end the weekend.
On Sunday night, conditions are favorable for rapid intensification off the mid-Atlantic coast into Monday morning, which could result in intense wind gusts over 50 mph and bands of very heavy snowfall from the mid-Atlantic into southern New England. The biggest impacts will be along the coast, where blizzard warnings are in effect from parts of Delaware through Connecticut.
Whiteout conditions and coastal flooding are expected in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, the weather service said.
Philadelphia declared a snow emergency starting at 4 p.m. Sunday, and public school buildings will be closed Monday.
“Snowfall records are likely to be broken,” the weather service office for the city said Saturday.
Mayor Cherelle Parker said at a news conference Saturday that 1,000 city personnel, more than 800 pieces of equipment and about 25,000 tons of salt are being staged ahead of the storm.
Original forecasts called for a couple of inches of snow, but projections worsened Friday as cities began issuing blizzard warnings.
In New York City, snowfall is expected to start Sunday morning and intensify in the afternoon and at night, with up to 2 inches per hour possible in the overnight hours.
“There is a reasonable worse case for around 2 ft+ of snow” in Long Island, the weather service said in a forecast discussion.
For New York City, this weekend’s storm would mark its first blizzard since 2016, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said at a briefing Saturday. He warned that the city could be buried in up to 20 inches of snowfall, making Monday’s commute “extremely dangerous,.” The city’s “Code Blue” operations have been activated to protect homeless New Yorkers, he said.
“I am asking all New Yorkers to stay inside and stay off the roads for your safety,” Mamdani said.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency Saturday for multiple counties including Albany and New York in preparation for the Sunday storm. Hochul also activated the state’s National Guard, which will assist in the storm response operations.
New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill declared a state of emergency effective Sunday at noon as the state braces for up to 20 inches of snow. Blizzard warnings have also been issued for the coast for the first time since 2022, Sherrill said during a briefing Saturday.
Sherrill urged residents to stay home and off the roads.
“That means today is the day to get the water you need, to get the food you need, go to the grocery store so you can stay off the roads tomorrow and Monday,” she said.
The Washington, D.C., and Baltimore area is expecting 3 to 6 inches of snow, most of which will fall Sunday evening.
Most of the snowfall is expected to end by Monday evening. On Monday morning, bands of heavy snow are forecast to start the day along the Interstate 95 corridor from D.C. to Boston.
These snow showers will gradually come to an end throughout the day, lingering the latest into parts of Massachusetts and Maine. Although the snow will taper off, breezy winds will persist throughout the Northeast.
This snowstorm comes to the region just as ice from a previous system late last month was melting away. The system impacted much of the U.S. and was responsible for the deaths of at least 50, including more than 10 people in New York City.
Mamdani warned that this weekend’s storm could be worse for the city than the last.
“These have the potential to be even more hazardous conditions than we faced the last time around,” Mamdani said, highlighting that the city may receive 6 or more inches of snow than it did last time.
The city put out a call for emergency snow shovelers Saturday to help clear the streets of snow and ice, according to city Comptroller Mark D. Levine.
The weather service also asked drivers to stay off the roads if possible. “Travel should be restricted to emergencies only,” it said in a blizzard warning covering Sunday afternoon through Monday afternoon for Westchester County, New York, and for southern Connecticut.
In a statement, Delta Air Lines said it is canceling flights scheduled for Boston Logan International Airport and New York City’s John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports on Sunday and Monday “to ensure the safety of our customers.”
Amtrak announced that it will be adjusting some of its routes on Sunday and Monday “due to dangerous weather conditions.” The service didn’t specify which routes will be affected but said “customers will be notified directly of any cancellations or adjustments.”
Mirna Alsharif is a breaking news reporter for NBC News.
Christine Rapp is a meteorologist for NBC News.
Dennis Romero is a breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.
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