Powerful winter storm hits US East Coast, disrupts thousands of flights

Parts of the US East Coast are bracing for a shellacking by a powerful winter storm packing heavy snow and high winds with thousands of flights grounded due to treacherous weather conditions.

People from New York City to Maine woke up on Saturday to half a foot (15 centimetres) of snow. 

Forecasters warned that could increase as the nor’easter kicked up blinding blizzard conditions with the potential for widespread power outages and coastal flooding

Parts of 10 states and some major population centres — Philadelphia, New York and Boston — were in the path of the storm, which was expected to rage throughout the day.

Airlines cancelled more than 4,500 flights at some of the nation’s busiest airports, according to FlightAware. Amtrak suspended or limited service on the Boston-to-Washington corridor. Cancellations on Friday totalled more than 1,450.

Officials from Virginia to Maine warned people to stay off the roads. The storm's saving grace: It was hitting on a weekend, with schools closed and few commuters.

Salt machines and snowplows were at the ready in New York, where Mayor Eric Adams tweeted that a foot (30 centimetres) of snow was predicted, but warned that "Mother Nature has a tendency to do what she wants."

READ MORE: Federal offices, schools shut as snow storm batters US east

Whiteout conditions

The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of "whiteout conditions and nearly impossible travel at times", along portions of the Mid-Atlantic and New England coasts, with snowfall accumulations greater than a foot expected in parts of the same region.

The governors of New York and New Jersey declared a state of emergency while Boston Mayor Michelle Wu declared a snow emergency.

Rhode Island, all of which was under a blizzard warning, banned all nonemergency road travel starting at 8am.

Delaware allowed only essential personnel to drive in two of its three counties. Massachusetts, where forecasters said some isolated pockets could get as much as 30 inches (76 centimetres) of snow, banned heavy trucks from interstate highways for most of Saturday.

The storm is expected to produce extremely cold temperatures with dangerous wind chills on Saturday night into Sunday morning.

The National Weather Service Eastern Region reported that the storm was expected to intensify rapidly over the next 24 hours, with pressure expected to fall around 35 millibars by Saturday evening. This rapid intensification is sometimes referred to as a "bomb cyclone."

Shoppers crammed stores on Friday to stock up on food, generators and snowblowers ahead of the Nor'easter, a type of storm so named because its winds typically blow from the northeast as it churns up the East Coast.

Parts of 10 states were under blizzard warnings: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. 

Areas closest to the coast were expected to bear the brunt of the storm, which could bring wind gusts as high as 70 mph (113 kph) in New England.

READ MORE: Eastern US faces possible 'bomb cyclone' of snow and wind