New York: A major storm that could drop historic amounts of snow on the Northeast of United States (US) this weekend is already disrupting air travel and has caused Mayor Michael Bloomberg to put New York City on alert.
While the storm is still far out enough that weather conditions could change dramatically, the the New York State Commissioner of the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services said that the city could receive as much as 20 inches of snow coming down through wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour.
More than 2,200 flights for Friday had been canceled, according to the Web site FlightAware, the majority originating or departing from the areas affected by the storm.
The city of Boston, where forecasts called for more than two feet of snow to fall by Saturday, announced that it would close all schools on Friday, joining other localities in trying to get ahead of the storm and keep people off the roads.
If the current models hold, the storm could rival the blizzard of 1978 in New England, when more than 27 inches of snow fell in Boston and surrounding cities. That storm, which occurred on a weekday, resulted in dozens of deaths and crippled the region for days.
Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said more than 20 agencies had gathered at the agency’s operations center in Framingham, Mass., where they were preparing for a historic storm.
Gov. Deval Patrick, who called the pending storm “a serious weather event,” has ordered all nonemergency personnel to work from home Friday and encouraged private employers to keep their workers home.
Governor Patrick asked that all vehicles stay off the roads after noon on Friday and said the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority, including all subway, buses and commuter rail services, would close at 3:30. He said mass transit was being kept open until 3:30 to allow the first shift of emergency and hospital workers to get home and the second shift to get to work.
Boston public schools will be shut, and the governor encouraged all other school districts in the state to cancel classes.
The state is preparing “warming centers” to be open in local communities in case of major power failures and will move people into larger regional centers if they need to stay overnight.
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