Snow Slams the East Coast, Blanketing Cities and Snarling Travel

The storm was expected to dissipate by Sunday, but not before dumping more than a foot of snow along coastal areas of the Northeast and two feet or more in parts of eastern Massachusetts.

The National Weather Service reported these levels of snowfall as of 7 a.m. Eastern on Saturday:

• John F. Kennedy Airport in New York: 5.1 inches

• Central Park: 5.3 inches, a record snowfall for this day. The last time Jan. 29 set a record snowfall was in 1904 with 4.7 inches.

• Philadelphia International Airport: 6 inches

• Bridgeport, Conn.: 6.9 inches

• Boston Logan International Airport: 3 inches

Flood barriers were erected around subway stations, floodgates were put up around low-lying roads and sandbags were laid down around storefronts on Cape Cod, where winds were expected to reach 65 to 70 miles an hour in the early morning.

“It’s going to get quite ugly out there, because it’s coming down fast,” Mayor Michelle Wu of Boston said in an early-morning television interview from City Hall.

In the early morning hours, the storm strengthened rapidly, so it is likely to be classified as a “bomb cyclone,” according to Bryce Williams, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Norton. This will lead to snowfall that could reach a rate three to four inches an hour for several hours, which is “not something we get with every storm.”

“It’s because the system is deepening or strengthening so rapidly — it is undergoing a very rapid change in central pressure,” he said. “It creates a dynamical system. It’s got a lot of instability and lift.”

A rush of frigid air later in the day is expected to result in dry, fluffy snow and higher accumulations. In the late morning, heavy snowfall may be accompanied by thunder and lightning, a relatively rare phenomenon known as “thundersnow,” which occurs when a storm is very strong and the air is rising quickly, he said.

Airlines have canceled arrivals and departures from Logan International Airport because of high winds, and Massachusetts banned tractor-trailers from the state’s interstate highways all day on Saturday, expecting that plows may have difficulty keeping up with the intense snowfall.

“Between two and four inches an hour for four, five, six hours is going to be an enormously challenging task,” Gov. Charlie Baker said at a news conference on Friday.

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Across New York City and some New Jersey suburbs on Saturday, life was quiet around 7:30 a.m., with the hums of snow plows not having yet passed streets and few residents choosing to brave the weather.

But even as others battled back wind gusts that shook the frames of apartment buildings and houses, some were excited by the pileup outdoors.

“It’s beautiful!” said Gharib Abd as he crossed a Manhattan street to walk to his Halal cart on 28th Street. As a married father of three, Mr. Abd of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, said that staying warm indoors was not an option: He has to work.

“I come out here every day — even in the snow, doesn’t matter,” he said, squinting to see through the flurries. “I’ve been coming here for 20 years. I never miss a day.”

There was little foot traffic on city streets in New York and New Jersey, but there was a sense in some neighborhoods that the storm did not yet appear to be as bad as some had initially feared.

“This is nothing,” said Timmy Coveney, 57, a construction worker who works for a group of residents in Brooklyn who shovel and salt sidewalks during the storm. “I remember the ’70s when they shut the whole avenue down.”

On Jan. 4, a snowstorm left hundreds of drivers stranded along Interstate 95 near Fredericksburg, Va., just south of Washington for more than 24 hours. The storm trapped truckers, students, families and every stripe of commuter, including Tim Kaine, the junior U.S. senator from Virginia and a former Democratic nominee for vice president.

Flights and rail service from New York to Washington were also disrupted by that storm, which knocked out power to more than half million customers and killed at least three people. In total, more than 14 inches of snow was recorded in Northern Virginia, while Washington reported more than eight inches.

On Jan. 6, a second, less-significant weather system made its way across the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeast, once again creating hazardous driving conditions and disrupting air travel for thousands. The governors of New Jersey and Virginia declared states of emergency before the storm. In the end, a swath of six to 12 inches of snow was reported from Tennessee to Maine, the National Weather Service said.

There were no major reports of damages or power outages across the Northeast as of 5 a.m.. The National Weather Service office on Long Island — where snowfall totals of more than 16 inches were forecast in Nassau and Suffolk Counties — said that about an inch had fallen there as of 1 a.m.

Blizzard warnings were in effect for a wide swath of the East Coast. And people across the region were bracing for a day of freezing temperatures, heavy snowfall, treacherous travel conditions and the potential for widespread power failures.

Four hours before dawn, the National Weather Service predicted that heavy snow rates and strong winds would combine to produce “dangerous blizzard conditions” across coastal parts of New England and the Mid-Atlantic on Saturday. It said that travel in those areas would be “nearly impossible” amid whiteout conditions.

The storm was expected to dissipate by Sunday, but not before dumping more than a foot of snow along coastal areas of the Northeast and two feet or more in parts of eastern Massachusetts.

“That’s where the bull’s-eye is,” Bryce Williams, a meteorologist at the Weather Service office in Boston, said by telephone just before 2 a.m. as snow piled up on his car in a nearby parking lot. Three hours later, he said that two to four inches had been recorded along coastal areas of Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Mr. Williams said that the heaviest snowfall in Eastern Massachusetts would be moving in just after sunrise and lingering through about 4 p.m. He said that Eastern Massachusetts and parts of Rhode Island were likely to have the highest accumulations along the East Coast on Saturday.

Cape Cod and the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard were likely to experience the fiercest winds, potentially even hurricane-force gusts, he added. A coastal flood warning was in effect for the east coast of Massachusetts for Saturday morning.

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s emergency declaration for New York City, Long Island, and Rockland and Westchester Counties took effect on Friday night. Five to 10 inches of snow were expected in the city and the mid-Hudson region.

As the storm moved through southern New England, the Weather Service said, areas of Massachusetts and Rhode Island could have whiteout conditions and as much as two to four inches of snow per hour. Mr. Williams said that heavy snowfall combined with high winds would increase the potential for power outages, especially for coastal areas of southeastern Massachusetts.

Air travel was in disarray even before the storm hit. Data from FlightAware, a site that tracks flights and the airline industry, showed that many canceled flights on Saturday had been scheduled to take off from Boston Logan International Airport and the three main aviation hubs for New York City: LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark Liberty.

Delta said on Friday that it would suspend operations at those airports through Sunday morning and restart them on Sunday afternoon if conditions allowed.

As for road conditions, Mr. Williams of the Weather Service said that snow, wind and low visibility would make it very difficult for anyone — including himself — who planned to drive.

“If you don’t have to be out and about, we’re trying to say: Stay home until Sunday,” he said. “Fortunately, Sunday looks quiet, so it’ll give us time for people to clean up and hopefully get back to normal by the start of the week.”

He added, “Right now, to get tow drivers, we have to pay more money, but we can’t charge more money.”

Snowplow drivers in the United States are usually either permanent employees in state transportation departments, state seasonal hires or tow truck drivers who also clear snow for private companies that, like Mr. Ferreira’s, have government contracts.

Snowplow hiring is “a major challenge nationwide,” because freight haulers and package-delivery companies are also vying for commercial drivers, said Kris Rietmann Abrudan, the communications director for the Washington State Department of Transportation.

“We are all competing for essentially the same group of applicants,” she said.

Cities and states are trying to adapt to the hiring challenge by raising pay, offering bonuses and training, shuffling employee shifts and putting some routes on the back burner to ease the workload.

The storm is expected to dump upward of two feet of snow on some parts of the East Coast this weekend. But the National Weather Service’s definition of a blizzard doesn’t require heavy snow — or, for that matter, any particular temperature.

It defines a blizzard by three criteria: blowing or falling snow, winds of at least 35 miles per hour, and visibility of a quarter mile or less for at least three hours.

“Whether or not the snow falls during the time of the blizzard, dangerous conditions can result,” a Weather Service Twitter account said on Friday.

In order to form, blizzards need cold air to make snow, and moisture to form clouds and precipitation. The moist air needs to rise over very cold air, making clouds and snow.

Officials have also described this weekend’s storm as a “nor’easter.” That term usually describes a weather system in which winds just off the East Coast collide with surface winds from the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States amid areas of low pressure.

“I really just like coming back for the energy of the city and to see friends, and the snow just happened to coincide with this trip and I like adventure,” said Mr. Greene, who divides his time between Brooklyn and Richmond, Va.

“I’ll figure it out after that — put my boots to work,” Mr. Greene said of the trip to Brooklyn that lay ahead.

Commuters at Penn Station on Friday seemed mostly undeterred by the forecasts. A handful of New York Rangers fans were trickling out of Madison Square Garden to catch commuter trains. None seemed particularly worried about the storm; on the other hand, they had left the game as the Rangers were tied with the Minnesota Wild (who eventually won).

In Washington, where Mr. Greene had boarded his train, Linda Porter, a Lyft driver, said her shift had been “pretty busy” as the storm made its way through the city in the early evening.

“A lot of people were trying to get away, go somewhere where the weather wasn’t as bad as it was predicted to be,” she said.

There was also a flurry of traffic as parents picked up children who had been let out of school early, and as other residents headed to grocery stores to stock up, Ms. Porter said.

A freeze watch is in effect from late Saturday through Sunday morning in some areas of Miami-Dade County, where temperatures could be as low as 31 degrees in the Everglades, just north of Miami, the National Weather Service said. Frost and freeze conditions could kill crops.

Miami-Dade County’s emergency management department asked people to prepare for the frigid weather by protecting children and older residents. They also recommended that people dress warmly, bring potted plants and pets indoors, and be careful about starting fires inside.

Earlier this week, when temperatures dropped into the 50s, people bought churros and thick hot chocolate, a tradition that is common during Miami’s coldest days. Restaurants, like Morro Castle and La Palma, can sell thousands of churros a night.

Bundled up in fluffy jackets and furry boots, locals stood in long, winding lines to get their hands on something warm, said Arletty Hernandez, 21. “It’s a Miami thing,” she said, shivering, after picking up her churros Sunday from La Palma on Southwest Eighth Street.

The National Weather Service in Boston said online on Friday that “models have now come into consensus for a historical blizzard to impact eastern southern New England.” Boston is expected to be bombarded, and Mayor Michelle Wu declared a snow emergency beginning at 9 p.m. and a citywide parking ban. Forecasters predicted 18 to 24 inches of snow to blanket the city.

“This is likely to be an intense, dangerous storm with heavy snow, high winds and whiteout conditions,” Ms. Wu said at a news conference.

Plows will not be able to keep up with expected snowfall rates of up to four inches per hour, state transportation officials said. Whiteout conditions will make it difficult, if not impossible, to see the road, said state officials, who urged people to avoid unnecessary travel.

Hours after canceling plans to attend the National Governors Association meeting in Washington, Gov. Charlie Baker asked people to take precautions and stay home during the storm.

“This kind of storm is nothing new for Massachusetts,” Mr. Baker said, “but we haven’t had one like this for quite a while.”

Janno Lieber, the authority’s chairman and chief executive, said at a news conference on Friday that service might be suspended earlier if the storm moved quickly.

“We are preparing to suspend service early tomorrow morning during the worst of the storm, which could drop two inches of snow per hour,” Mr. Lieber said. “Just so you know, in the middle of the night some time, we’re going to be suspending service.”

The Metro-North Railroad, which serves the city’s northern suburbs, will run hourly service on its Hudson, Harlem and New Haven lines. But Harlem Line service will run only as far north as Southeast, N.Y., and trains will not run on the New Canaan, Danbury or Waterbury branches in Connecticut.

Disruptions are likely on the city’s buses and subways, Mr. Lieber said. Transit officials do not expect to suspend subway service, but about 220 miles of the system’s tracks run outdoors rather than in tunnels, and travel on those sections can be affected by heavy snow or ice. The transportation authority has equipment like snowblowers and de-icing cars to help avoid significant service outages.

Bus service and schedules may be altered, depending on the condition of the city’s roads. Mr. Lieber said that the city’s extra-long articulated buses would be taken out of service for the storm, and the buses that remain in operation will be equipped with chains to help them travel on icy or snow-covered roads.

“Avoid unnecessary travel,” Mr. Lieber advised. “And if you have to travel, please exercise extreme caution.”

New Jersey Transit said it would suspend bus service on Saturday. The River Line, a light-rail system between Trenton and Camden, will not run. Otherwise, the agency said it would operate its regular schedule on Saturday, “for as long as weather and road conditions permit.”

Both New Jersey Transit and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority advised people to check their social media feeds, websites and apps for the latest details.