What to know about historic blizzards and snow storms coming to parts of the US

(ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Snow and rain began falling Sunday across parts of the East Coast, the first jabs of an intense winter storm expected to wallop the region through the day and overnight, with blizzard alerts and weather warnings buzzing in communities from Maryland to Massachusetts.

The National Weather Service said 1 to 2 feet (some 30 to 60 centimeters) of snow was possible in many areas, along with heavy winds and potential flooding in certain spots.

Blizzard warnings have been issued by the weather service in New York City and Long Island, Boston and coastal communities in New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. State of emergency declarations were issued in New Jersey, Delaware, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and parts of New York as officials mobilized readiness efforts.

“It’s been a while since we’ve had a major nor’easter and major blizzard of this magnitude across the Northeast,” said Cody Snell, a meteorologist at the service’s Weather Prediction Center.

“This is definitely a major winter storm and a major impact for this part of the country,” he said.

The weather service had said the storm would start out as rainfall in some areas before turning into snow as temperatures drop. Some of the heaviest snow is expected to fall overnight Sunday, with as much as 2 inches (5 centimeters) of snow per hour accumulating at times in some areas, before tapering off by Monday afternoon.

The weather service warned that the storm’s strong wind gusts could cause whiteout conditions, potentially downing power lines and causing outages. The service warned of a “Potentially Historic/Destructive Storm” southeast of the Boston-Providence corridor, writing on X that it was “very concerned” about heavy snow and winds causing power outages.

Видео What to know about historic blizzards and snow storms coming to parts of the US канала 13WMAZ