US East Coast braces for another massive snowstorm

NEW YORK: A fast-developing storm is threatening to pummel the US East Coast with a foot or more of snow beginning Sunday, bringing Mother Nature’s wrath to a region that only just dug out from a previous winter wallop.

Meteorologists issued blizzard warnings for New York and parts of at least six states, warning Saturday that heavy snow and gale-force winds are forecast to slam all major cities along the densely populated Interstate 95 northeast corridor, including Philadelphia, Boston and even Washington further south.

“Blizzard conditions expected. Total snow accumulations between 1 and 2 feet (30-60 centimeters)” in Boston and eastern Massachusetts, with winds gusting to 60 miles (96 kilometers) per hour, the National Weather Service said Saturday in a report from its Boston office.

The NWS headquarters said snowfall rates of more than one inch (2.5 centimeters) an hour will occur at times along parts of the East Coast, with huge snow totals “resulting in near-impossible travel conditions.”

The heavy, wet snow may result in numerous power outages, it warned.

Flooding is also forecast along the coastlines of northeastern and mid-Atlantic states such as Delaware and New Jersey, where communities are expected to be hit with extreme conditions during the worst of the storm, late Sunday into Monday morning.

More than 50 million Americans are in the path of the current Nor’easter, a powerful cyclone that forms along North America’s eastern coastline.

In New York City, authorities and residents were bracing for a direct hit, the first blizzard to sock the city since 2016.

“We are now expecting between 13 to 17 inches of snow, but there is a slight chance we may see up to 20 inches, if not more,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani told a briefing.

“I am asking all New Yorkers to stay inside and stay off the roads for your safety,” he said, adding that the city’s Monday morning commute “will be extremely hazardous.”

A mega-storm that swept across the eastern half of the country in late January was linked to more than 100 deaths nationwide, and slammed some cities with heavy snow and sleet that froze into rock-hard ice.

New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill declared a state of emergency beginning midday Sunday, freeing up funds and allowing the swift deployment of resources to address the imminent weather crisis.