Uccellini predicted coastal flooding in the mid-Atlantic states as a result of a cycle of high tides swept higher by strong onshore winds.
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Snowfall could approach 2 feet or more in some locations, including the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., metro areas.
Friday evening, the storm will bear down on the East Coast, from Virginia to New Jersey. Officials are warning people to stay off roads as the blizzard makes its way across the East Coast.
Given the extraordinary conditions expected, Washington has been preparing all week for the type of blizzard that Bowser said the city has not seen in 90 years. Forecasters expect flooding, though not as bad as Superstorm Sandy’s.
The National Weather Service’s website early Saturday said 18 inches of snow had fallen on Ulysses in eastern Kentucky, while 16 inches fell in Beattyville.
Washington’s snowfall could eclipse the “Snowmageddon” storm of 2010 that dropped 17.8 inches (45.2 cm), AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said. Snow levels will be around 4500 feet and the National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for the mountains east of the valley. But Weather Prediction Center meteorologist Paul Kocin tells the AP that he hopes the timing of the storm – hitting over the weekend – as well as the advance warning will help minimize the number of deaths. NWS officials said the storm could cause more than Dollars 1 billion in damage.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser asked residents to “hunker down” and “shelter in place” Friday morning.
People awoke to snow and ice Friday as the storm moved eastward. She had to get to work at a family practice clinic that was open on Friday, unlike government offices and many other private businesses.
“People need to understand the gravity of what is coming our way”, said Chris Geldart of the District of Columbia’s emergency management agency. “That’s part of the deal”. A jack-knifed tractor-trailer started “pure gridlock” around Nashville, where Tennessee Highway Patrol Lt. Bill Miller said snow plows and salt trucks couldn’t keep up with the weather. Mayor Kasim Reed said the city had learnt from an ice storm in January 2014, when an exodus of commuters resulted in gridlock and left thousands of students stranded overnight at their schools.
“I think it’s going to be a nightmare, the rates of snow we’re talking about”, said Marisa Kritikson, 27, a George Washington University nursing student who bought a snow shovel to dig out from her basement apartment.
Governors in at least 10 states – Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, West Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky – declared states of emergency Friday as the snowstorm began.
College basketball games and concerts were also postponed.
“We haven’t made snow angels yet, but we’re looking forward to doing that in front of the White House“, said Robert Bella Hernandez, 38. The capital’s subway system had announced earlier in the day that it will shut down entirely late today and remain closed through Sunday for the sake of employee and rider safety.
“Washington looks like the bull’s-eye of the blizzard, and New York City is just inside the slow-moving storm’s sharp northern edge, which means it is likely to see heavy accumulations”.
Train service could be disrupted by frozen switches, the loss of third-rail electric power or trees falling on wires.
Airports have cancelled more than 6,000 flights as zero-visibility conditions grounded entire airports, and Washington DC shut down its public transit system through Monday morning for the first time since Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The bulk of Friday’s cancellations were in Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina; Saturday’s cancelations center on Philadelphia, Washington, and – to a lesser extent – NY. One of the cities that could be hit the hardest is Washington, DC. “I don’t want to run out of my water, my bread – and chili”, D.C. resident Ali Wehr said.
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At least one industry could benefit from all this: Eastern ski resorts, which got a late start this season because of December’s record highs.
