NEW YORK -- A "potentially historic" storm is set to dump up to 3 feet of snow from northern New Jersey to Connecticut starting today, crippling a region that has largely been spared so far this winter, the National Weather Service said.
A blizzard warning was issued for New York and Boston, and the National Weather Service said the storm would produce heavy snow and powerful winds starting today and into Tuesday.
"This could be a storm the likes of which we have never seen before," New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference Sunday. "We expect to have a serious problem on our hands."
De Blasio held up a piece of paper showing the city's top 10 snowstorms and said this one could land at the top of a list that goes back to 1872, including the 26.9 inches that fell in 2006. "Don't underestimate this storm. Prepare for the worst," he said as he urged residents to plan to leave work early today.
Boston is expected to get 18 to 24 inches of snow, and Philadelphia could see 14 to 18 inches, the weather service said.
A weekend storm that had brought snow and slush to the Northeast -- the first real snow of the season for many areas -- was just a warm-up.
"Looks like our luck is about to run out," said John Paulsen as he gassed up his SUV in New Jersey. "I can't complain too much since we've had a pretty mild winter, but I don't know if I'm ready for a foot or so of snow all at once."
The storm system driving out of the Midwest brought snow to Ohio on Sunday and was expected to ultimately spread from the nation's capital to Maine for a "crippling and potentially historic blizzard," the National Weather Service said.
The Washington area expected only a coating or a bit more, with steadily increasing amounts expected as the storm plods its way north. The storm promised treacherous travel by both land and air throughout the busy Northeast corridor.
At New York's Penn Station, Cicero Goncalves was waiting for a train to Vermont, where he's going snowboarding, because he expected the flight he had hoped to take would be canceled.
But the flight attendant, 34, from Queens counted himself and his travel partner as lucky. "We'll get there before it snows, and we're coming back when the storm is over, on Thursday," he said.
At least seven major airports, including Newark Liberty International and New York's LaGuardia Airport, are in the path of the storm, and Amtrak's Acela service, along with regional commuter rail operations, will be affected. Interstate 95 parallels the U.S. East Coast from Maine to Florida.
All city agencies are on high alert as New York sanitation workers scramble to maintain 6,000 miles of road, de Blasio said.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will bring on extra personnel who will work 12-hour shifts as it prepares to maintain operations at its airports, tunnels, bridges and train systems, according to an emailed statement.
New York City schools will be open today with anticipated closures Tuesday, de Blasio said.
Preparations large and small were in effect elsewhere in New York. A Manhattan Home Depot store sold about twice as many shovels over the weekend as it normally does, while transit officials hoping to keep the subways running smoothly planned to use modified subway cars loaded with de-icing fluid to spray the third rail that powers trains.
Farther north, a blizzard warning was issued for Boston from tonight through early Wednesday. Wind gusts of 60 mph or more are possible on Cape Cod, forecasters said.
Wyatt Baars, manager of the Charlestown Ace Hardware in Boston, sold out of bags of ice-melting pellets. But he said a New Hampshire distributor is helping him and delivering more.
"Everybody is preparing for the storm," he said. "When we have something this big on the horizon, everybody comes in for the ice melt, snow shovels, snow brooms."
The greatest effect on Boston commuter rail and rapid transit will probably occur Tuesday, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said on its website. The transit authority may reduce its schedules at the height of the storm.
Snowplow driver Al Laplant expected to be out clearing roads of Simsbury, Conn., this week, just as he has for more than two decades.
"We'll be out there until the storm's over and then at least three hours after cleaning up," he said as he attended a home show in Hartford. "We'll be out there through the whole storm."
But even for a plow driver, the snow is no cakewalk.
"It's kind of exhilarating," he said. "But at the same time, I've been doing it for 27 years, so I'm kind of tired of it myself."
Information for this article was contributed by Verena Dobnik, Pat Eaton-Robb, Bruce Shipkowski and Deepti Hajela of The Associated Press and by Brian K. Sullivan and Kelly Bit of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 01/26/2015