Overview
- New York and New Jersey have declared states of emergency as officials urge people to stay off roads, with airlines issuing waivers and transit agencies preparing service adjustments.
- Forecasts call for 12–20 inches across much of New England with peak snowfall rates of 1–3 inches per hour, 10–14 inches in New York City with a brief sleet risk near the coast, and 12–18 inches in Central New York.
- Northeast Ohio is under a winter storm warning for 8–11 inches from Saturday night through Monday morning along with sub-zero wind chills, while the Chicago area faces accumulating fluffy snow with a sharp cutoff in totals.
- Farther south, a corridor from Texas through the Mid-South and Carolinas is expected to see significant freezing rain, including 0.5–1 inch of ice near the I-85 corridor, threatening trees, power lines and extended outages.
- An Arctic air mass will bracket the storm, with wind chills plunging well below zero — reaching the minus-20s to minus-40 in parts of northern New England — and dangerous cold persisting into next week.