New York may be the the city that never sleeps. But you wouldn’t know it early Tuesday morning.
The streets in this city of 8 million people were deserted, except for the snow plow trucks making their rounds.
The first big storm of the year may drop up to 3 feet of snow on Boston and New York before it ends Tuesday, with freezing rain and strong wind gusts possibly reaching 70 mph. Blizzard and winter storm warnings have been issued from Maryland through Maine and into Canada.
The National Weather Service, which isn’t prone to exaggeration, is using terms like “life-threatening” and “historic” to describe the weather system taking aim at the Northeast.
Already, New York’s Central Park had reported 5.5 inches of snow.
In Nantucket, Massachusetts, the wind was blowing at 62 mph. Large wind gusts can send tree limbs crashing down into power lines. That could leave people in some area without electricity for days.
The worse, forecasters warn, is yet to come.
The next six hours — until 7 a.m. ET — will bring the heaviest of snow, the strongest of wind gusts, and the lowest wind chill temperatures.
Up to 58 million people could be put into the deep freeze. And the storm could have a far-reaching economic and political impact, even beyond the region directly hit.
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“When you’re living on the edge of paradise like we are now, you give Mother Nature a lot of respect when we need to,” said Connors.
Visibility will be a major problem, said CNN meteorologist Judson Jones.
“This is not one of those storms you want to go out in while it’s happening,” Jones said. “You want to wait for the winds to die down … before you go to the store.”
Blizzard Watch issued for RI to be in effect Mon night to Tues night due to predicted snow accumulations of 18-24" http://t.co/v1635ezsLy
Tuesday is shaping up to be a day when the reality of the weather sets in.
One of the inevitable aftereffects of snow — flooding — will quickly become a problem.
There could be coastal flooding in Massachusetts starting early Tuesday, with pockets of major flooding on east-facing coastlines, the state emergency agency said.
“Plan to work from home is the best advice for Tuesday,” Jones said.
CNN’s Ralph Ellis, Ashley Fantz, Sara Ganim, Joe Sutton, Dana Ford, Aaron Cooper, Joshua Gaynor, Taylor Ward, Teri Genova and Kevin Conlon contributed to this report.
