Travel Bans in Place as Northeast Braces for Blizzard

New York: As millions of residents in the Northeast prepared for a powerful blizzard bearing down on the region, bringing with it near hurricane-force winds along the coast and as much as 3 feet of snow, officials from New Jersey to Maine urged people to get off the roads and stay indoors.

Even before the worst of the storm hit, thousands of flights were grounded, public transportation was suspended or curtailed and travel bans were put in place in the half dozen states in the path of the storm. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced Monday that all subway and bus service in New York City was to stop at 11 p.m. Monday.

Many buses and trains were packed Monday afternoon as officials urged people to leave work early, before heavy snow and high winds made travel treacherous or impossible.

"This will most likely be one of the largest blizzards in the history of New York City," Mayor Bill de Blasio warned.

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Joe Pollina, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said on Monday night that the storm remained on track to deliver as much as 3 feet of snow to parts of New York City.

Most of the city, he said, could expect around 2 feet of snow, but in the southern parts of Queens and Brooklyn, he said that totals could reach 36 inches.

The conditions were expected to worsen throughout the evening and then, after midnight, intensify rapidly, with winds reaching 50 mph.

The blizzard is expected to rage throughout the night and into Tuesday morning and not clear out until late in the afternoon. De Blasio took the unusual step of ordering all drivers off the streets by 11 p.m. Monday, a ban that he said covered "anything that has to do with leisure or convenience," including, to the chagrin of many housebound New Yorkers, food delivery.

The call to completely clear the city's streets was a reflection of how seriously public officials were taking the threat of the storm, which was expected to affect a 250-mile stretch of the Northeast.

Across the region, governors declared states of emergency, deployed National Guard units and readied fleets of snow plows and salt trucks.

Coastal areas including eastern Long Island, Cape Cod and other parts of New England, were expected to be battered by winds that could blow nearly as high as a hurricane, leading to possible flooding and widespread power failures that might last for days.

The public seemed to heed the warnings, crowding the aisles of grocery stores and rushing home goods stores to stock up on supplies.

Given that cars being stranded on roads and highways has proved to be a problem during recent storms, state leaders all had a common message: get off the roads as soon as possible.

Cuomo ordered a travel ban on Long Island starting at 11 p.m. Monday and said that more travel bans could be put in place depending on the path of the storm.

"Mother Nature has decided once again to come visit us in an extreme way," Cuomo said. "This is going to be a blizzard. It is a serious blizzard. It should not be taken lightly.''

Airlines pre-emptively canceled 5,200 flights as of Monday morning and some airlines announced that they would be suspending all service in the region Tuesday.

"This is a top-five historic storm, and we should treat it as such," Gov. Charlie Baker of Massachusetts said. "This is clearly going to be a really big deal."

It is also the first storm Baker is facing since he was sworn in this month and, like other politicians, he is aware that he will be judged on the state's response.

Baker ordered a statewide travel ban in effect as of midnight and the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which operates the Boston subway system and commuter rail lines, will shut down service at midnight and will be closed Tuesday.

In Boston, Mayor Martin J. Walsh also ordered drivers off the street Monday evening and said residents would be notified via loudspeaker that a parking ban will go into effect at 6 p.m.

"You should not be driving in the city of Boston," the mayor said. "All residents, once you park your car, leave your car there and do not leave your house."

De Blasio said that the decision to order all drivers off the roads in New York City was necessary to ensure that sanitation workers can clear streets and emergency workers can get where they need to go. He said the order extended to those making food deliveries on bicycles.

"People have to make smart decisions from this point on," de Blasio said. "It is not business as usual."

While New York announced that parks would be closed to the public at 6 p.m., crews planned to work throughout the storm, clearing roads and paths and removing downed limbs. In Central Park, for instance, 18 snow plows, five front-end loaders and 22 snow blowers were set to work around the clock during the storm in order to allow for faster public easier access once the park reopens.

In all, New York has deployed some 1,800 plows to clear more than 6,000 miles of roadways and the mayor asked that residents act responsibly and stay inside.

Subway service would continue but on a limited basis after 7 p.m. Monday, officials said. Service on the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad will be suspended at 11 p.m. New Jersey Transit will stop running trains at 10 p.m. and officials said that they did not expect service to be restored on commuter trains until Thursday.

At Bleecker Street Pizza, in Greenwich Village, Greg Greenwood, a manager, said he and his team would abide by the mayor's order, even though it might cut into to the "fair number" of pies that the restaurant typically delivers after 11 p.m. "We have to follow it," Greenwood said, "we only have one mayor and that's him."

That said, Greenwood added that the pizzeria would remain open, despite the weather, until its usual closing time of 2 a.m.

"People can trudge out and pick up pizza if they want to - we'll be here," he said. "And trust me, they will."

The forecasts shifted throughout the day but by Monday afternoon, officials said the city was still likely to get as much as 2 feet of snow.

The record snowfall in New York City came in 2006, when 26.9 inches of snow was measured in Central Park. A blizzard in 1947 left just more than 26 inches, and one in 1888 brought 21 inches.

In southern New England, officials braced for as much as 3 feet of snow and high winds that could cause widespread power failures.

"This is not going to be a run-of-the-mill nor'easter," said Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's forecast office in Taunton, Massachusetts. "This storm has the potential to be a historic storm."

Dunham said the storm would intensify rapidly and in Cape Cod, the winds could exceed 75 mph.

He said a phenomenon called thundersnow - essentially, a thunderstorm with snow instead of rain that he said had the potential to put down a "tremendous" amount of snow - was possible.

Gov. Gina Raimondo of Rhode Island, facing the first major snowstorm of her first term, issued a travel ban starting at midnight, though she urged drivers to get off the roads by 8 p.m.

"We believe this storm is so severe that it poses an imminent threat to the safety of our citizens," said Raimondo at a news conference, where she urged Rhode Islanders to take the same preparations she herself is taking.

"We've got our bread, we've got our milk, we've got our water, we've got my mother coming over today," Raimondo said, "and I'd ask every Rhode Islander to do that."