A powerful winter storm that the National Weather Service classified as a “bomb cyclone” began pummeling eastern Massachusetts on Saturday, dropping as much as a foot of snow from Long Island to New England, where people were bracing for flooding, more snow and near-hurricane strength winds.
In the Boston area, storm surges were a concern for later on Saturday, as tides rise in the evening.
On the far east area of Long Island in New York, nearly a foot of snow had fallen, and the area could see another foot by the time the storm finishes. People across the region were bracing for continued freezing temperatures, heavy snowfall and treacherous travel conditions.
More than 115,000 households were without power in Massachusetts, with wider outages expected. Nearly 90 percent of flights at LaGuardia Airport in New York were canceled, and about three-quarters were called off at John F. Kennedy airport.
In Boston, the storm was drawing comparisons to a nightmarish “Blizzard of ’78” that buried the city under 27 inches of snow.
The storm was expected to dissipate by Sunday, but not before dumping more than a foot of snow along coastal areas of the Northeast and two feet or more in parts of eastern Massachusetts.
The National Weather Service reported these levels of snowfall as of 7 a.m. Eastern on Saturday:
-
John F. Kennedy Airport in New York: 5.1 inches
-
Central Park: 5.3 inches, a record snowfall for this day. The last time Jan. 29 set a record snowfall was in 1904 with 4.7 inches.
-
Philadelphia International Airport: 6 inches
-
Boston Logan International Airport: 3 inches
-
Bridgeport, Conn.: 6.9 inches
-
Islip, N.Y.: 10.3 inches
-
Howard Beach, N.Y.: 7.0 inches
Discussion about this post