The city braced Friday for its first winter wallop of 2013, with a paralyzing blizzard expected to dump a foot of snow just three months after Hurricane Sandy.
The whiteout, with whipping winds gusting to 50 mph, will reduce visibility to near zero while threatening to down trees and power lines — a familiar if unfortunate scenario for New Yorkers.
[h=4]Mary Altaffer/AP[/h][h=4]Sanitation workers use tractors to pile up salt at a depot. The New York City metropolitan area is expected to get 10-to-14 inches of snow.[/h]
“Stay off the city streets,” Mayor Bloomberg advised at a Friday afternoon news conference. “Stay out of your cars.”
The city had 1,700 snow plows, 450 spreaders and 250,000 tons of salt ready and waiting for the snow that was expected to bury the five boroughs overnight.
[h=4]Mary Altaffer/AP[/h][h=4]Morning rush hour pedestrians make their way to work on Delancey St. Feb. 8 in New York.[/h]
“We’ve to prepare for the worst case,” said Bloomberg. “We’re ready for anything.”
PHOTOS: WINTER STORM NEMO HITS THE EAST COAST
[h=4]Mario Tama/Getty Images[/h][h=4]New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg warns city residents to get home early to beat the bad snow.[/h]
The city planned to avoid a repeat of the blizzard of 2010 when 20 inches of snow fell and stranded cars clogged city roadways. The conditions made it impossible for some ambulances to get to emergencies.
“What we don’t want is cars stuck in the middle of the road because, pardon the bun, it snowballs the problem,” the mayor said.
[h=4]-/AFP/Getty Images[/h][h=4]This National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) image shows the major snowstorm over the northeastern section of the United States on February 8.[/h]
According to Bloomberg, the city will add an extra 100 ambulances Friday night to handle emergencies.
The blinding blizzard was expected to dump between 10 and inches of snow as winds up to 50 mph whipped through the city and its suburbs, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Morrin.
[h=4]Mark Bonifacio/New York Daily News[/h][h=4]The well-prepared stock up on shovels and salt at the Home Depot on Forrest Avenue in Staten Island.[/h]
A wintry mix of sleet and rain caused huge transportation problems Friday, with 1,945 flights departures and arrivals cancelled at the three area airports: Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: STAYING SAFE DURING NEMO
[h=4]Matt Rourke/AP[/h][h=4]Airlines have already canceled more than 2,700 Friday flights as they get ready for a storm that threatens to dump up to 3 feet of snow from New York City to Boston.[/h]
The weather was expected to wreak havoc on flight schedules through Saturday.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Tarik Sayed, 52, whose flight home to Durham, N.C., was canceled. “They say there are no more flights ... Now I’m just tired, and stuck.”
[h=4]SHANNON STAPLETON/Reuters[/h][h=4]A sign stating “No Gas” at a Mobil Station in Queens Friday shows how the storm could impact fuel deliveries.[/h]
All Amtrak service north of Penn Station was shut down as New England braced for a potentially historic storm, with forecasts warning of three feet of snow.
The mayor said that city bus service will likely be affected as the snow begins pounding the city Friday evening.
[h=4]Mary Altaffer/AP[/h][h=4]Morning rush hour traffic makes it's way over the Williamsburg bridge into Manhattan Friday.[/h]
There will be no Manhattan service on the No. 7 line so the MTA can temporarily park some trains underground until the storm blows out of town Saturday.
PHOTOS: WINTER IN NEW YORK CITY
[h=4]AP Photo[/h][h=4]Danielle Kondratuk of Manchester walks her dog Bella as snow falls in Manchester, Conn.[/h]
The mayor also said parking meters would be suspended on Saturday due to the storm.
In other blizzard developments:
[h=4]AP Photo[/h][h=4]Manchester, Conn. Police, block traffic after a pick up truck slid off a snow-covered road into a traffic sign near the Buckland Hill Mall.[/h]
* A costal flooding warning was issued for Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn and southern Queens — all areas hit hard by Sandy’s October storm surge.
* While the worst of the storm was expected to hit Friday night, a blizzard warning remained in effect for the New York area through 1 p.m. Saturday.
[h=4]AP Photo[/h][h=4]A woman stays dry under an umbrella during a winter storm in Buffalo, N.Y.[/h]
* New York City public schools were open for classes Friday — but after-school programs were canceled because of the impending snowstorm, education officials said. The decision includes all Public School Athletic League games.
RELATED: STATE-BY-STATE LOOK AT MASSIVE BLIZZARD
[h=4]AP Photo[/h][h=4]Tow truck operator Shawn Juhre sets up road safety reflectors before towing a car out of a ditch during a winter snow storm in Buffalo, N.Y.[/h]
* As the first light flakes began falling before sunrise Friday, Bloomberg urged New Yorkers to consider cutting their work days short.
“Leave early from work and try to beat the bad snow," Bloomberg said on WOR-AM's “John Gambling Show.”
[h=4]AP Photo[/h][h=4]Kevin Quick plows a slushy mix in front of M & T Bank during a winter storm in Buffalo, N.Y.[/h]
* Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road were adding extra trains in the afternoon for commuters leaving work early.
* Bloomberg spent Friday morning “visiting sanitation garages just to say ‘Thank you’ to the men and women who have to go out there.”
[h=4]Mark Lennihan/AP[/h][h=4]Snowplows are at the ready to clear the 10-to-14 inches of snow expected in the New York City metropolitan area.[/h]
* In addition to the usual rush for food and snow shovels, drivers filled up their gas tanks before the blizzard. One Queens gas station ran out of fuel Friday morning, hours before the heavy snow was due.
* The governors of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut declared states of emergency ahead of the coming storm. Forecasters in Massachusetts said the storm could set a record for the heaviest snowfall in state history, besting the old mark of 27.6 inches, set in 2003.
* Metro-North will suspend service at 10 p.m.
[email protected]
The whiteout, with whipping winds gusting to 50 mph, will reduce visibility to near zero while threatening to down trees and power lines — a familiar if unfortunate scenario for New Yorkers.
“Stay off the city streets,” Mayor Bloomberg advised at a Friday afternoon news conference. “Stay out of your cars.”
The city had 1,700 snow plows, 450 spreaders and 250,000 tons of salt ready and waiting for the snow that was expected to bury the five boroughs overnight.
“We’ve to prepare for the worst case,” said Bloomberg. “We’re ready for anything.”
PHOTOS: WINTER STORM NEMO HITS THE EAST COAST
The city planned to avoid a repeat of the blizzard of 2010 when 20 inches of snow fell and stranded cars clogged city roadways. The conditions made it impossible for some ambulances to get to emergencies.
“What we don’t want is cars stuck in the middle of the road because, pardon the bun, it snowballs the problem,” the mayor said.
According to Bloomberg, the city will add an extra 100 ambulances Friday night to handle emergencies.
The blinding blizzard was expected to dump between 10 and inches of snow as winds up to 50 mph whipped through the city and its suburbs, said National Weather Service meteorologist Tim Morrin.
A wintry mix of sleet and rain caused huge transportation problems Friday, with 1,945 flights departures and arrivals cancelled at the three area airports: Kennedy, LaGuardia and Newark.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: STAYING SAFE DURING NEMO
The weather was expected to wreak havoc on flight schedules through Saturday.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” said Tarik Sayed, 52, whose flight home to Durham, N.C., was canceled. “They say there are no more flights ... Now I’m just tired, and stuck.”
All Amtrak service north of Penn Station was shut down as New England braced for a potentially historic storm, with forecasts warning of three feet of snow.
The mayor said that city bus service will likely be affected as the snow begins pounding the city Friday evening.
There will be no Manhattan service on the No. 7 line so the MTA can temporarily park some trains underground until the storm blows out of town Saturday.
PHOTOS: WINTER IN NEW YORK CITY
The mayor also said parking meters would be suspended on Saturday due to the storm.
In other blizzard developments:
* A costal flooding warning was issued for Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn and southern Queens — all areas hit hard by Sandy’s October storm surge.
* While the worst of the storm was expected to hit Friday night, a blizzard warning remained in effect for the New York area through 1 p.m. Saturday.
* New York City public schools were open for classes Friday — but after-school programs were canceled because of the impending snowstorm, education officials said. The decision includes all Public School Athletic League games.
RELATED: STATE-BY-STATE LOOK AT MASSIVE BLIZZARD
* As the first light flakes began falling before sunrise Friday, Bloomberg urged New Yorkers to consider cutting their work days short.
“Leave early from work and try to beat the bad snow," Bloomberg said on WOR-AM's “John Gambling Show.”
* Metro-North and the Long Island Rail Road were adding extra trains in the afternoon for commuters leaving work early.
* Bloomberg spent Friday morning “visiting sanitation garages just to say ‘Thank you’ to the men and women who have to go out there.”
* In addition to the usual rush for food and snow shovels, drivers filled up their gas tanks before the blizzard. One Queens gas station ran out of fuel Friday morning, hours before the heavy snow was due.
* The governors of Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut declared states of emergency ahead of the coming storm. Forecasters in Massachusetts said the storm could set a record for the heaviest snowfall in state history, besting the old mark of 27.6 inches, set in 2003.
* Metro-North will suspend service at 10 p.m.
[email protected]