New England bracing for the heaviest snow

“Hunker down for 24 hours, and sometime tomorrow, you’ll be able to go back out and resume some of your normal activities,” Tom Guthlein, Rhode Island’s acting director of emergency management, said early Saturday.

In New Jersey’s Atlantic City, howling wind was whipping snow sideways Saturday morning, and a CNN crew there could barely see anything a block away. The city crushed its all-time January snowfall record by Saturday, reaching a staggering monthly total of 35.2 inches of snow. It had received about 19.2 inches prior to the storm and added another 16 inches of snow on Saturday, CNN meteorologist Gene Norman said Saturday afternoon. The prior monthly record of 20.3 inches was set in 1987.

Up to 2 feet of snow could fall by Sunday morning from Long Island through Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, CNN forecasters said.

And Boston, eastern Massachusetts and parts of Maine could get more than 2 feet of snow, which could threaten Boston’s one-day snowfall record of 23.6 inches set on February 17, 2003. Snow could fall at rates of 2 to 4 inches per hour in some locations.

“It’s slowed a little bit and I think we’re past the peak of the storm,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu told CNN Saturday evening, adding, “but this is coming down hard and fast, and so it’s been historic.”

The blizzard warnings in coastal areas from Virginia to New England excluded Philadelphia and New York City but snow still is hitting those cities, with nearly a foot possible in each.

Notable locations within the warning area include Atlantic City, New Jersey; the eastern half of New York’s Long Island; Cape Cod, Massachusetts; Boston; and Portland, Maine.

Nearly 19 million people were under winter weather alerts across six states Saturday evening extending from southern New York to Maine and including New York City and Boston.

Power outages in Massachusetts, with street flooding along coasts

Strong winds could lead to power outages — and many already were reported in Massachusetts Saturday afternoon.

On Nantucket, floodwater covered Easy Street and lapped up against some homes Saturday morning, video recorded by Blair Perkins showed.

High winds and snow pushed over several trees across the island while some areas were out of power because of downed wires, Nantucket Fire Chief Stephen Murphy told CNN on Saturday afternoon. Several roadways were also closed because of flooding, the chief said.

“We do have coastal flooding when we get these kinds of storms, but today was pretty intense,” Jason Graziadei, an editor at the local newsletter Nantucket Current, told CNN on Saturday afternoon. “People (are) kind of just hunkering down out here.”

Scituate, a coastal Massachusetts town southeast of Boston, had some mild to moderate flooding at high tide Saturday morning, with water splashing over seawalls, town administrator Jim Boudreau told CNN.

High winds have reached more than 70 mph, Boudreau said Saturday afternoon.

“When you have wind like that with the snow, the snow is almost like needles coming down hitting people,” he said. “Visibility has been near zero, we’re plowing the roads as quickly as we can, as fast as we get the snow off the roads the wind is blowing it back in.”

“It’s really treacherous out there right now,” Boudreau said.

In Marshfield, another coastal Massachusetts town, about 4 feet of water came over the seawall at high tide, town administrator Michael A. Maresco told CNN.

“The combination of strong northeast winds and high seas will bring storm surges that, if coinciding with high tide, would lead to minor or moderate coastal flooding,” the weather service office in Boston said.

In Quincy, a city just south of Boston, the mayor warned people to stay indoors, saying even snowplow operators wouldn’t be able to drive when the snowfall is heaviest.

“There’s no way plows are going to operate when they can’t see in front of their face,” Mayor Thomas Koch told CNN Saturday. “Even after the storm is done, we’ll be plowing for many hours afterward, to keep up with the wind blowing it.

The Massachusetts Department of Transportation issued a travel ban for large trucks on interstate highways for Saturday because of the severe winter weather forecast.

Rhode Island Gov. Daniel McKee declared a state of emergency ahead of the storm and took precautions a step further by signing a travel ban beginning Saturday morning and going through 8 p.m. due to whiteout conditions.

Rhode Island is expecting to record some of its highest snow accumulation totals through this storm, the governor told CNN on Saturday afternoon.

The blizzard-like conditions led Amtrak to cancel train service on Saturday for various lines, including Acela service between Washington, DC, and Boston as well as regional service between Boston and New York, the company said Friday.

Snow piles up fast on Long Island and in New Jersey

The governors of New York and New Jersey also declared states of emergency.

As a precaution, all Long Island Rail Road service was suspended Saturday morning, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said.

Though more than 1 foot is generally forecast for Long Island, the eastern half could receive more than 20 inches, the National Weather Service said.

snowplow crews will work throughout Saturday night in Suffolk County on Long Island, but freezing temperatures and lingering snowfall will complicate efforts to clear the roads into Sunday, County Executive Steve Bellone said.

In Nassau County, where officials said snowfall totals ranged from 10 to 18 inches, County Executive Bruce Blakeman said Saturday strong wind gusts were expected later in the evening, and urged residents to stay home.

“Snow is dangerous, but wind is more dangerous,” Blakeman said, adding there had been more than 50 car accidents by Saturday morning but roads later in the day remained virtually empty besides snowplows.

“If everybody stays off the roads, lets our workers do their job, by noon tomorrow I think we’ll have this under control, and I think the roads will be a lot safer,” he said.

In New Jersey, the Jersey Shore was “getting clobbered,” Gov. Phil Murphy said late Saturday morning.

He asked residents to be patient and stay off covered roads.

“It’ll take us a few days to dig out of this one, and that’s probably what’s the realistic scenario,” Murphy said.

Near New York City’s Central Park, snowfall was lighter — about 5 inches reported as of around noon. Some bundled people were jogging Saturday morning.

“It’s a good chance to get some peace and quiet in the city,” Chris Peck, pausing on his jog near the park, told CNN Saturday morning. “Kind of close your eyes and pretend you’re out in nature. Nice change of pace.”

Maryland, Virginia, the Carolinas and elsewhere

The governors of Maryland and Virginia issued states of emergency in their states.

By noon Saturday, parts of coastal Virginia received up to 6 inches, and coastal parts of Maryland and Delaware received more than 10 inches.

Parts of interior North Carolina and South Carolina got more than 2 inches of snow, with higher amounts in North Carolina’s mountains.