Hurricane-force winds and deep snow forced city public schools and major universities to close today as over 200,000 people in area are without power.
Snow is still falling in the city, where nearly 21 inches has been measured in Central Park, as plows continue to work through the afternoon to keep major roadways clear for commuters.
Parts of Orange County had gotten nearly 31 inches by this afternoon.
A man was killed by a falling snow-laden tree branch in Central Park, one of at least three deaths in the Northeast being blamed on the storm.
Airlines posted major delays and canceled hundreds of flights at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports.
The National Weather Service said an “intense area of low pressure will stay nearly stationary over southern New England and southeastern New York state through early Saturday morning before beginning to weaken.”
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AccuWeather.com described the weather as “an extremely powerful storm” leading to “whiteouts along the I-95 [highway] stretch from Philadelphia to New York City.”
“Downed trees and power outages will also continue to plague a large part of the Northeast. The storm will slowly weaken today into the weekend, allowing winds to slowly slacken a bit,” AccuWeather said on its Web site.
The windy and snowy conditions are expected to last through the weekend, according to AccuWeather.com.
City officials said the storm is likely to be the worst this season and that some parts of the region have gotten more than 50 inches over the past two months alone.
Con Ed said crews were working to cope with power lines knocked down by falling trees.
About 28,000 people in Westchester County and 2,300 in the city were without electricity this morning, the company said, noting that although “crews are evaluating damage … additional outages may occur.”
Nearly 17 inches had accumulated in Central Park this morning, with the park getting another four inches by this afternoon.
Eric Warner, of Brooklyn, braved the blizzard, saying he drove a truckload of milk, eggs and cheese from Teaneck, NJ, into Manhattan.
The roads were terrible, he said, and even carrying the crates was hard.
“When the snow hits you, it feels like little needles,” he added.
NJ Transit canceled all buses in the northern half of the state before the morning commute began.
Government offices in New Jersey opened two hours late, officials said.
Seventeen-year-old Andre Lopes, who lives in Newark, had been hired for the day to help shovel the sidewalks around Newark’s Penn Station.
He said the wind-whipped snow that was swirling everywhere when he started shoveling at 1 a.m. had died down a bit but was still falling steadily by 6 a.m.
“You’ve got to have mad clothes to keep warm out here,” he said. “You’ve got to keep bundled up.”
Lopes said he hadn’t been able to take a break, trying to keep a step ahead of the accumulation.
“It’s kind of a fun day,” he said.
With AP and AFP