With the first flurries starting to fall Monday morning in what officials said was expected to be one of the most powerful blizzards to ever strike New York City, officials warned residents that the storm would gather strength and urged people to get off the roads before evening when winds would pick up and the heaviest snow was expected.
John Murray, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said that the current forecasts called for up to two feet of snow to fall by Tuesday morning in the city and winds to gust over 30 miles per hour.
A blizzard warning was issued for a 250-mile stretch of the northeast, from New Jersey to Boston, and officials warned people not to be lulled into a false sense of security by the relatively calm conditions on Monday morning.
Even before the worst of the storm had descended on the region, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy of Connecticut ordered a travel ban on roads and highways throughout the state starting at 9 p.m.
He warned of coastal flooding and said the National Guard and Coast Guard repositioned equipment around the state in preparation for the storm.
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The authority will begin storing subway cars underground on Monday night, Mr. Cuomo added. De-icers and snow throwers will be deployed and extra crews will be on duty.
Metro-North and L.I.R.R. officials were preparing for the possibility of altering or halting service, an M.T.A. spokeswoman said on Sunday. In addition, she said, all L.I.R.R. waiting rooms would be kept open 24 hours for the duration of the storm.
Other state agencies, including the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the State Police and the National Guard will be on alert, Mr. Cuomo said.
Both the governor and the mayor acknowledged that public transportation could be slowed or halted. “This could be the biggest snowstorm in the history of New York City so, yes, there could be delays of everything,” Mr. de Blasio told reporters.
Hazards could persist even after the abatement of “blizzard-type conditions.” Mr. de Blasio said people should avoid the city’s parks in the immediate aftermath of the storm because the weight of snow could snap tree branches and send them plunging to the ground.
According to a list displayed by the mayor, the snowiest storm in the city’s history, measured by accumulations in Central Park, came in 2006, when 26.9 inches of snow fell. A blizzard in 1947 dropped just over 26 inches, and one in 1888 brought 21 inches.
The most recent heavy snowfall came on the day after Christmas in 2010, when 20 inches fell, paralyzing the L.I.R.R., stranding ambulances and trapping commuters for hours on an A train that was stuck on an icy section of elevated track in Queens.
