Winter Storm Grayson — ominously referred to as a “bomb cyclone” — began pounding the Big Apple early Thursday, with as much as 10 inches of snow expected amid whiteout conditions.
A winter storm warning is in effect for New York City, Connecticut and parts of New Jersey, while a blizzard warning has been issued for Suffolk County through Thursday night.
If forecasts prove accurate, the total snow accumulations in the city are expected to be 4 to 8 inches, with 8 to 12 inches forecast for eastern Long Island.
The projected snow totals remain highly variable depending on how the system moves, especially since the snow bands are so narrow, according to NBC 4 meteorologists.
Blizzard conditions are marked by at least three straight hours of heavy or blowing snow, visibility under a quarter-mile and sustained winds of 35 mph or higher.
Staten Island and Queens also face a flood threat until Thursday afternoon as the storm will push tides as much 2 feet above ground level, said AccuWeather meteorologist Tyler Roys.
“It will essentially stay on the coast,” he said. “If there’s any water in a parking lot close to the coast, turn around. All of a sudden what might look like one foot of water could be three if it’s flooded around.”
Meanwhile, travel has been disrupted in the region, with local airports reporting many flight cancellations.
Airlines have so far canceled more than 2,100 Thursday flights, in addition to the 558 canceled Wednesday, according to FlightAware, an online tracking service.
American Airlines and Delta have begun suspending flights at some eastern US airports.
Amtrak planned to operate on a modified schedule between New York and Boston on Thursday.
All New York City schools are closed Thursday, and other schools across the tri-state area are reporting closings and delays as well.
Alternate-side parking is suspended in the city Thursday and Friday, though meter rules remain in effect.
New York City Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia told reporters the city expects a “plow event” with near-whiteout conditions.
“Once it falls, it is not going away,” Garcia said. “We are going to see almost historically low temperatures this weekend” and a warm-up won’t happen until Monday.
The high Thursday will be near 27 degrees — with wind chill values of between 5 and 15. Wind gusts could be as high as 44 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
The snowfall will end by Thursday night but the mercury is expected to drop and Arctic winds will blow into Saturday, Roys said.
Tonight, temperatures will drop into the single digits and will barely hit the mid-teens on Friday, with the evening feeling like a bone-chilling minus-20, according to AccuWeather.
“If you’re going out to a Broadway show you really need to bundle up,” Roys said.
The frigid temperatures will likely make the snow stick well into next week he added.
“That’ll make any snow removal tonight and tomorrow very difficult, especially with the winds,” Roys said.
The storm — the product of a rapid and rare sharp drop in barometric pressure known as bombogenesis — has dumped snow on Florida’s capital, Tallahassee, for the first time in 30 years.
According to AccuWeather, snow will fall quickly during the day, at a rate of several inches per hour, with the storm intensified by the bombogenesis effect.
The bomb cyclone phenomenon occurs when a storm’s barometric pressure drops by 24 millibars in 24 hours.
The storm’s focus and track will shift north until it brings its worst to Boston and coastal New England later Thursday. Wind gusts along the coast from Maine to Massachusetts could reach 70 miles an hour in places with heavy snow, according to Bloomberg.
“The real apex, the peak of the storm, will be Cape Cod to Nova Scotia,” said Gregg Gallina, a forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Md.
With Post Wires