A powerful winter storm that could become a ‘superbomb’ threatens New York and the Northeast United States with heavy, wet snow that could exceed 30 centimeters starting this Sunday (the 22nd). Wind gusts on par with a tropical storm are also forecast, capable of knocking out power lines, canceling flights, and making travel potentially deadly.
The mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, warned that there is “a small chance of seeing up to 20 inches [about 50 centimeters] of snow, or even more,” and that the blizzard could be more dangerous than the storm that hit the city at the end of January.
“I am asking all New Yorkers to stay at home and off the roads for their safety,” Mamdani said at a press conference on Saturday (the 21st). “There is potential for conditions even more dangerous than those we faced last time.”
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Alerts in Other Regions
The state of New Jersey has also declared a state of emergency. The blizzard warning extends from New Haven, Connecticut, to Delaware, including New York and Long Island, starting at 6 a.m. Sunday. The warning is likely to be expanded to southern New England and Boston.
The forecast is that the storm will rapidly intensify on Sunday, to the point that the U.S. Weather Prediction Center classifies it as a ‘superbomb’, according to Brian Hurley, the agency’s senior meteorologist.
“It will last. It is expected to remain active for much of Monday. The greatest accumulations are expected in central and eastern Long Island and the New Jersey coast, where forecasts call for 20 inches.”
New York Infrastructure Affected
New York authorities will mobilize 2,600 sanitation workers in 12-hour shifts starting at the onset of snowfall Sunday morning. Still, “there will not be full snow-clearing operations throughout this storm,” Mamdani said. “Our focus during this storm will not be on physical infrastructure,” he stated. “It will be to ensure that homeless New Yorkers have shelter.”
With temperatures close to freezing, the snow will be heavy and wet. The expectation is for trees and power lines to fall, causing power outages.
Sunday flight cancellations are expected to rise significantly, especially in the busy New York area, triggering a cascading disruption at the start of the work week.
Ground travel will be dangerous, and the National Weather Service recommends that anyone who needs to go outside bring a survival kit.
