The National Weather Service has forecast a powerful winter storm to affect the Northeast beginning Friday and continuing into Saturday. The Weather Channel has dubbed the impending weather system winter storm Nemo.
According to the National Weather Service, the storm could bring anywhere from 6 inches to 2 feet of snow across an area stretching from the New York City metro area to Maine, with localized heavier amounts possible.
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Update: 4:00 p.m. -- The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for New York City and surrounding areas, including western Connecticut, upstate New York and northern New Jersey. The warning is in effect beginning 6 a.m. Friday and extending to 1 p.m. Saturday, with the strongest winds and heaviest snowfall occurring Friday evening into Saturday morning.
Accumulations of 10 to 14 inches are anticipated, accompanied by wind gusts of up to 45 mph. According to the National Weather Service:
Falling and blowing snow with strong winds and poor visibilities are likely. This will lead to whiteout conditions... making travel extremely dangerous.
The New York City mayor's office tweeted a message outlining the city's preparedness from its official account earlier in the day:
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority advised taking precaution:
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article stated that the New York City area blizzard warning goes into effect on February 8 at 6 PM. It begins at 6 AM.
Previously:
The New York Times local blog for the Fort Green and Clinton Hill neighborhoods of Brooklyn captured both the hazardous and lighter side of the looming storm. While it cautioned that winter storm Nemo might "freeze travel plans" for those coming in and out of New York City, it also encouraged people to send them their photos of the snowfall.
CBS meteorologist David Bernard reported "potential for historic snows and blizzard conditions across the Northeast" in his outlook Thursday morning, borrowing language from the National Weather Service's blizzard watch for the area.
As of midday Thursday, the NWS forecast anticipated accumulations of 18 to 24 inches for metro Boston, Connecticut and southeastern New England, combined with strong winds gusting up to 55 mph. Winter storm watches were in effect for most of the Northeast.
The last time that New England was hit with snow accumulations of this magnitude was during the famous blizzard of 1978, which "paralyzed the region with more than 2 feet of snow and hurricane force winds" just more than 35 years ago, according to CBS News.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, does not name winter storms, but the Weather Channel adopted a naming convention for them in October 2012. TWC claimed naming winter storms would help raise early awareness of them, thereby increasing preparedness and reducing hazards.
TWC released a list of colorful winter storm names in November. Last month, winter storm Khan brought ice across the southern United States.
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