The first major storm of the winter season dropped more than a foot of snow in parts of the Northeast on Saturday, and more was on the way.
Heavy to moderate snow was expected to continue to fall over New York and New England on Sunday before dwindling by Monday morning, forecasters said.
More than 15 million people from the northeastern United States to Northern Arizona were under winter storm warnings on Sunday.
Preliminary snowfall totals through Sunday morning were above six inches in many areas of the Northeast and reached or exceeded a foot in parts of Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.
The National Weather Service warned that the “rapidly strengthening” storm would continue to disrupt travel. Forecasters warned of low visibility and dangerous driving conditions during the heaviest snowfall, which could reach one to two inches per hour.
More than 700 flights were canceled in the United States as of Sunday, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking service. As of 10:30 a.m., nearly 150 flights to and from Boston Logan International Airport had been canceled.
After an unseasonably warm December, the first snow of 2024 was greeted with a sense of relief, at least by Jesse Floyd, 57, of Boxborough, Mass.
“New England winters should include snow,” he said. “It’s been too long since the last big storm. I can’t wait to get out and do some snowshoeing.”
Walter Lark, 35, and his son Ira, 3, enjoyed the slushy snowfall as they walked through the College Hill neighborhood of Providence, R.I.
“My tongue is freezing,” Ira said, clutching and biting into a compact snowball. Asked if the snowball snack in his hand was tasty, Ira’s eyes lit up and he answered with a satisfied “Mhmm!”
Mr. Lark though said he was disappointed in the paltry showing of snow. “I was hoping for more snow because it’s fun with them,” he said.
Ahead of the storm, residents scrambled for snow-removal supplies and officials discouraged travel. For several days, officials and forecasters in the Northeast had warned of dangerous conditions, with the region getting either heavy snow, freezing rain or a mix of the two.
As of Sunday morning, the National Weather Service office in New York reported two-tenths of an inch of snow had fallen in Central Park, though some outlying suburbs got four or more inches. It has been almost 700 days since Central Park last received an inch of snow in a single day.
Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut said that “hundreds of plows” were deployed to clear roads and highways of the snow.
In Rhode Island, where less snowfall was predicted, the state’s Office of Energy Resources said it was closely monitoring the storm’s affect on power and fuel supplies.
Unitil, a natural gas and electricity company based in Hampton, N.H., advised customers to fill up their tanks and store three days’ worth of essentials for each member of their households.
The next storm system is expected to be stronger and warmer, and its effects will be much more widespread, intensifying into a dynamic storm over the Great Plains and affecting the East Coast from the early to middle parts of the week, forecasters said.
Excessive rainfall from Texas to the Northeast will be a significant factor, meaning that snow from Sunday could be washed away by heavy rain by Wednesday, increasing the chances of floods in places hit by both.
Forecasters also predicted significant river flooding from excessive rainfall on Tuesday across large parts of Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., and Maryland.
“Powerful onshore winds will also likely lead to coastal flooding along much of the East Coast,” the Weather Service said.
Melissa Russell in Reading, Pa., and Colleen Cronin in Providence, R.I. contributed reporting.
