NEW YORK (NewsNation) — Parts of the Northeast were hit Tuesday by a snowstorm that canceled flights and schools and prompted warnings for people to stay off the roads, while some areas that anticipated heavy snow were getting less than that as the weather pattern changed.
It was the first major snowstorm in New York City since February 2022. The city, which has the nation’s largest school system, switched to remote learning but reported problems with the online system that prevented students from logging in Tuesday morning.
Mayor Eric Adams told New Yorkers not to underestimate the storm.
“Let’s allow Mother Nature to do its thing,” he said. “The name of the game is to keep our roadways clear, and we’re hoping that people use public transportation or if they can stay home, please do so.”
Some of the highest snowfall totals, eight inches or more, were forecast for parts of the northern suburbs of New York City, Connecticut, southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to the National Weather Service. Wind gusts could hit 60 mph off the Massachusetts coast and 40 mph in interior parts of southern New England.
Road conditions have progressively gotten worse throughout the morning and are anticipated to worsen into the night.
The New York State Department of Transportation reports snowy, icy and slick roads across New York City, Long Island and Westchester. They’re warning drivers to watch for disabled vehicles along some of the busier thoroughfares.
The main concern is that as temperatures drop into the night, the slush on the roads will turn into ice and make for treacherous road conditions during rush hour.
More than 1,000 flights were canceled so far Tuesday morning, mostly at the airports in the New York City area and Boston, according to FlightAware.com.
Power companies said they were preparing to respond to possible outages that could occur because of trees and branches falling onto electricity lines.
At a news conference, New York City officials said that despite the snow predictions, they had no plans to relocate people from several large, heated tent shelter complexes built for thousands of homeless migrants.
In the South, flood watches covered much of Alabama and parts of central Georgia on Monday. Up to 5 inches of rain was expected in parts of Georgia and Alabama, the National Weather Service warned.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.