WASHINGTON (AP) — The latest on the blizzard slamming a large swath of the United States (all times local):
1:15 p.m.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced a travel ban in New York City as a massive snowstorm hits the region with up to two feet of snow.
Cuomo says all non-emergency vehicles should be off the roads after 2:30 p.m. Saturday.
Mayor Bill de Blasio says the police will enforce the ban.
De Blasio says people should heed the warnings and “immediately go home.” He urged Broadway theaters to cancel performances and restaurants to close.
Cuomo says Metro-North, the Long Island Rail Road and above-ground parts of the subway system will shut down at 4 p.m.
MTA buses stopped running at noon.
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1:15 p.m.
All Broadway shows — both matinees and evening performances — were cancelled Saturday after New York state officials declared a weather emergency.
A ban on travel in New York and the suspension of public transportation forced Broadway producers and theater owners to pull the plug.
Charlotte St. Martin — president of The Broadway League, which represents producers— says: “We expect normal operations to resume for tomorrow’s Sunday matinees.”
The storm didn’t stop the inaugural three-day BroadwayCon — sort of like a Comic Con for thespians — at a midtown hotel.
Further north, a Rita Moreno concert at Jazz at Lincoln Center was canceled.
The last time Broadway took a big weather hit was Superstorm Sandy in 2012. It darkened Broadway for four days and cost more than $8.5 million in lost revenue.
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1:05 p.m.
After a week of forecasting how bad this blizzard would be and a night stuck in the Atlanta airport because of the weather, meteorologist Ryan Maue says he was out of words to properly describe how big and bad this storm is.
Meteorologists say that even with double-digit — and up to 2-feet — snow accumulations, cities across the East can expect much more until it all ends late Saturday or early Sunday.
Maue, of the private WeatherBell Analytics, estimates that Washington will get another 9 to 10 inches of snow and New York 14 to 20 more inches by noon.
He says 80 million people are affected, and a quarter of the U.S. is suffering from snow.
And yet it could have been more. He says that’s because the low pressure storm center of the coast is elongated. Had it been more focused, there could have been even more snow and high wind.
He adds: “This is going to be one of those generational events, where your parents talk about how bad it was.”
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1:05 p.m.
People all over the East Coast are dragging out yardsticks, if they can find them, to measure the snow as a major blizzard hits a huge swath of the country.
But private meteorologist Ryan Maue said Saturday that in some cases, those 36-inch measuring tools may not be enough. People might find more snow than that outside their doors.
Maue also says this storm may be the first true social media blizzard. As an example, video from the National Zoo in Washington of giant pandas playing in the snow went viral.
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1:05 p.m.
The major snowstorm menacing much of the U.S. continued to deliver on its promises Saturday in the Mid-Atlantic, dumping more than 27 inches of snow by noon in the Maryland suburbs of the nation’s capital.
The highest amount in the unofficial numbers compiled by the National Weather Service was 27.2 inches in Clarksburg, which is in Montgomery County.
Observers in Washington reported a high of 18 inches in the city’s Anacostia neighborhood.
Fifteen inches was reported in Baltimore.
More than 2 feet of snow was reported in Allegany County in western Maryland, Carroll County in central Maryland, in the northern Virginia city of Manassas and in Purcellville in Loudoun County, Virginia.
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12:25 p.m.
The Rev. Shaun Whittington and his church group of 96 parishioners, mostly teenagers, looked out the windows of their bus Saturday morning, after 14 hours stranded on the intestate, and saw plows finally digging out cars around them.
They were on their way home to Indiana from the March for Life in Washington, D.C., when around 9 p.m. the Pennsylvania Turnpike turned into a snowy parking lot, as the blizzard dumped snow in several states.
Whittington says they had enough gas to keep the buses running and DVDs to keep the kids entertained until nearly noon the next day, when plows and haulers arrived.
Whittington say the group is warm, fed, and in good spirits.
The group was among many stuck on the turnpike; two university sports teams were in the same predicament. Emergency crews and the National Guard were called out to help.
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12:10 p.m.
Authorities in Maryland say a man shoveling snow has died after an apparent heart attack as a blizzard dumps snow across much of the U.S., bringing the total number of deaths from the storm to at least 10 nationwide.
Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department spokesman Mark Brady says paramedics were called to the Fort Washington area around 10 a.m. Saturday for a report of a 60-year-old man who was shoveling and appeared to have a heart attack. Brady says medics were not able to revive the man and he died. His name wasn’t released.
Brady had just sent out an advisory warning of the potential for heart attacks while shoveling. He urged people over 50 and those with heart conditions to get someone else to do the job, noting that the amount of snowfall associated with this storm will be particularly challenging to shovel.
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12:10 p.m.
Members of the Temple University women’s gymnastics team are among those stuck on the Pennsylvania Turnpike due to the big winter storm — but their coach says they’re doing fine.
Umme Salim-Beasley says the team’s bus has been stuck since Friday night about 80 miles from Pittsburgh. She says they left Philadelphia at about 2 p.m. Friday to try to beat the storm but ran into traffic.
The Duquesne men’s basketball team is also stuck on the Turnpike. Coach Jim Ferry says his guys were running out of leftover pizza.
Salim-Beasley says her team’s provisions are holding out. Fire department personnel brought them water — and they usually travel with a large amount of snacks “so those came in handy.”
Turnpike officials say some pockets of stranded motorists stretch back 2 or 3 miles. The National Guard has been mobilized to help and first responders are using ATVs to reach stuck motorists.
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Noon
Flight tracking service FlightAware says more than 5,500 flights to, from or within the U.S. have been canceled this weekend due to the blizzard hitting the East Coast.
The bulk of Saturday’s nearly 4,300 cancelations are at airports in the New York City and Washington areas. Another 1,200 flights were canceled for Sunday. Those cancelations center on Philadelphia, Washington and New York City. Airlines have essentially shut down all flights into those cities.
The airlines hope to be back to a full schedule by Sunday afternoon to handle the typical influx of business travelers heading out to start the work week.
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11:45 a.m.
Mike Aliff is a 4-by-4 good Samaritan.
The 31-year-old Richmond, Virginia, native spent Saturday morning driving around in his Jeep Wrangler looking for people to help as the massive snowstorm made its way through his state and others.
After seeing motorist Paul Kay stuck alongside Midlothian Turnpike in suburban Richmond, Aliff pulled his Jeep over, hopped out and quickly got on the ground to attach a tow rope to Kay’s car.
Then he jumped back in his Jeep and successfully pulled Kay’s car out from the snow.
While state authorities have warned drivers to stay off the road amid a massive snowstorm that’s paralyzed large much of the state, Aliff said his faith in his Jeep is absolute.
He says: “This Jeep ain’t getting stuck. I can pull out anything in this Jeep.”
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11:45 a.m.
High winds are bringing blizzard conditions to parts of the eastern U.S. being pounded by snow.
The National Weather Service says hurricane-force winds of 75 mph were recorded on Dewey Beach, Delaware, and Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. The data was reported on the weather service’s storm tracking page.
From Virginia to New York sustained winds topped 30 mph and gusted around 50 mph, according to forecaster Patrick Burke at the weather service’s Weather Prediction Center.
The weather service defines a blizzard as a storm with large amounts of snow or blowing snow, with winds in excess of 35 mph and visibilities of less than one-quarter mile for at least 3 hours.
The weather service doesn’t have a point where it officially terms a storm a blizzard, but this storm “certainly fits the criteria,” forecaster Patrick Burke said.
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11:30 a.m.
Washington’s monuments, normally busy with tourists, are largely deserted Saturday as the major snowstorm hitting much of the U.S. continued.
The steps of the Lincoln Memorial had not been cleared off and looked almost like a ski slope. At the Korean War Veterans Memorial, statues of soldiers were coated with snow. And at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, snow had settled on a statue of King, covering one of his shoulders and the top of his folded arms. A dusting of snow was on his forehead and nose.
Visibility was reduced. On an average day, visitors can see from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument and the Capitol. But on Saturday, the Washington Monument was not even visible from the memorial to the 16th president.
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11 a.m.
Police say the southbound lanes are open but northbound remains closed after hundreds of drivers were stranded overnight on Interstate 75 in south-central Kentucky.
Kentucky State Police said Saturday morning that they anticipate opening the remaining lanes before noon.
Trooper Lloyd Cochran says he doesn’t have a figure for number of cars or people affected by the standstill but noted that no injuries were reported.
Cochran describes people still stuck on the road, some milling about at exits or leaving their cars to seek out the few stores and restaurants nearby.
He says local hotels were booked. Shelters also were opened, but Cochran says he doesn’t know how many people went there.
Cochran says salt trucks are out, but traffic is moving slowly and will continue to do so once the northbound lanes open.
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11 a.m.
The National Weather Service says that in nearly two dozen places, the amount of snow has already passed the 20-inch mark, with a full day of more snow to come.
The accumulation totals come Saturday morning as a storm treks across the country.
Not all the totals are official weather stations, but one spot in Terra Alta, West Virginia, hit 28 inches, while Oakland, Maryland, accumulated 2 feet.
The weather service’s storm tracking page reported that on the Eastern Shore, Dewey Beach, Delaware, and Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, recorded hurricane-force 75 mph winds.
In New York City, some are enjoying the snow. Forty-seven-year-old Mark Buckwalter packed snow into a plastic flower planter beneath a tree in Tompkins Square Park. He wants to make bricks for an igloo. He says he has a 5-year-old, so he loves the snow. He calls this blizzard “awesome.”
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10:25 a.m.
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser says up to 13 inches of snow have fallen in Washington, but officials are asking residents to stay off the streets as the second half of the storm moves through.
Bowser said Saturday in a news conference that people should not be driving or walking in the streets.
Bowser tells residents: “We need you to stay home.”
Bowser says the visibility is poor and people walking in the streets are not easily seen. Officials say there are no reported fatalities so far. Officials say they expect another possible 10 inches of snow as well as high winds. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says even people with four wheel drive vehicles are getting stuck.
Bowser again emphasized: “Please stay home.”
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10 a.m.
Duquesne University’s men’s basketball team is stuck on the snow-closed Pennsylvania Turnpike along with a host of other vehicles as a massive snowstorm climbs up the East Coast.
Coach Jim Ferry says the team bus hasn’t “moved one inch in 12 hours.”
Officials say there are pockets of motorists stuck in the westbound lanes of the turnpike south of Pittsburgh. Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo says some of those pockets stretch two or three miles.
The National Guard has been called out to help motorists that have been stranded through the night.
Ferry says his players have been eating leftover pizza from last night but he’s hoping traffic gets moving soon.
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9:50 a.m.
As a snowstorm made its way eastward across the country, Baltimore awoke Saturday to more than a foot of snow in the city and light winds to start the day.
Deeper snow — up to 17 inches — was reported in the suburbs.
Winds overnight had blown snow up against the base of storm doors, and snow came up to the bottom rail of split-rail fencing. While plows had chugged through major neighborhood streets Friday night, no traffic could be seen or heard Saturday morning.
The pace of the snowfall picked up as the day continued, and the National Weather Service said there was a 100 percent chance of heavy, blowing snow during the day. Only about 100 people were without power in the city as of 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
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9:50 a.m.
The massive snowstorm paralyzing much of the eastern U.S. has provided a welcome change of pace for some people.
Courtney Cezair-Mayers, 33, who was walking her poodle in Arlington, Virginia, said her plan for the rest of the day involved watching Netflix and baking brownies.
She says, “This is a nice relief as long as it doesn’t paralyze town for too long.”
Fifty-one-year-old Hans Dreyer was walking to a bagel store he had heard was open. Dreyer said he and friends had had a “hot tub, barbeque, bourbon” party Friday night. He was looking forward to hiking in the snow Saturday.
Twenty-two-year-old Bonnie Cantwell was outside taking pictures. She planned to spend the rest of the day reading a book.
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9:40 a.m.
Snow accumulations have passed a foot in much of the East Coast as of Saturday morning.
Another 18 hours of snow, some of it intense, is still forecast. Snow had been falling since Friday.
Washington’s Reagan National Airport had 14 inches, Washington’s Dulles International Airport had 15.2 inches, Baltimore Washington International Airport had 12.4 inches and Philadelphia had 13 inches as of 7 a.m., according to the National Weather Service.
New York’s airports were only in the 7-inch range, but forecasters said an intense band of heavy snow falling at two inches per hour was just hitting the city.
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9:40 a.m.
An official is warning people not to try to get out into the snow to clear their homes and businesses as a blizzard makes its way across a large swath of the U.S.
Meteorologist Patrick Burke, with the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center, says as the storm heads up the coast Saturday, snow is lingering over the mid-Atlantic from northern Virginia onward, but Philadelphia and New York City are starting to be affected by the most concentrated areas of the storm Saturday morning.
He says people should be cautious outside: With strong winds continuing, snow will blow around, and it could reduce visibility.
He says that sometimes people suffer heart attacks while digging out. He says conditions are too poor to be outside clearing snow. He says winds will die down by Sunday evening and advises people be cautious and “take time digging out from this one.”
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9:30 a.m.
Officials say there are pockets of stranded motorists in the westbound lanes of the Pennsylvania Turnpike near the Allegheny Mountain Tunnel in Somerset County, and the National Guard has been called out.
Pennsylvania Turnpike spokesman Carl DeFebo tells The Associated Press that he is aware of some of pockets of traffic, two to three miles in length, stuck on the turnpike in the western part of the state as a powerful winter storm moves through. He says some travelers were stuck overnight.
He says the National Guard has been called out to help those stranded.
DeFebo says travel conditions on the turnpike are extremely hazardous and traffic is moving at a crawl in some sections.
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9:30 a.m.
The National Weather Service says New Jersey is experiencing moderate coastal flooding, and some areas are at risk of major flooding.
The New Jersey state police reported Route 30 in Atlantic City has closed due to tidal flooding, as has the George Redding Bridge between Cape May and Middle Township.
Tens of thousands are without power along the New Jersey coast as the storm comes through with heavy wind and snow.
Weather forecasters warn that this weekend’s high tides, including around 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday, will be the worst time for flooding.
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9 a.m.
An emergency management official says Interstate 75 south of Lexington, Kentucky, has reopened after its closure stranded drivers in their vehicles for hours amid a snowstorm, and no injuries or deaths have been reported.
Buddy Rogers, spokesman for Kentucky Emergency Management, says traffic was again moving — albeit slowly — Saturday morning along a roughly 30-mile stretch of I-75 northbound and southbound, from Berea to London.
Rogers says traffic accidents caused by snow led to a backup on the heavily-traveled interstate. It all started Friday. He says officials had gone from vehicle to vehicle, making wellness checks on marooned motorists and helping them get to three shelters.
He says: “It’s just been a mess.”
Rogers said about 17 inches of snow fell in the area Friday and early Saturday.
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8:30 a.m.
Some areas in the Washington metro area woke up to nearly two feet of snow Saturday morning as a menacing winter storm bore down on the region and barreled east.
In Silver Spring, Maryland, about 20 inches of snow was measured outside by daybreak. Lightning flashed and thundersnow rumbled after 6 a.m. Thick snow continued to fall steadily in light wind.
Plows cleared the snow from a heavily traveled road. Ambulances and trucks were able to get through, but few other vehicles were moving. A couple intrepid people walked along the cleared portion of the road, ducking into the deeper snow when vehicles approached.
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7:35 a.m.
A local TV reporter who was among the motorists stranded along Interstate 75 in Kentucky amid a snowstorm tells viewers from inside her news van that the experience has been crazy, with wind and snow building as drivers turn off cars to save gas.
Caitlin Centner of WKYT-TV (http://bit.ly/1PpjtXs ) went on air from the van Friday night. She’d been stranded for several hours and said the interstate had been closed because of crashes. She says: “Every time it looks like there’s light at the end of the tunnel, more accidents and slide-offs are occurring.”
Centner interviewed Rebekah Sams. She was stranded making her way to a volleyball tournament. Sams described snow blowing amid a complete standstill.
She says: “You never imagine yourself being out here for five hours during a snowstorm.”
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7:35 a.m.
Virginia State Police say they responded to nearly 1,000 traffic crashes as a fearsome storm blanketed the state with snow.
From midnight through 10 p.m. Friday, troopers responded to 989 crashes and 793 disabled vehicles. All told, state police dispatch centers fielded 3,471 calls during that period.
Spokeswoman Corinne Geller says the majority of the crashes involve damage to vehicles. Virginia recorded one storm-related death Friday in Chesapeake.
A trooper was injured Friday night while assisting a disabled vehicle on Interstate 64 in New Kent County. Geller said Trooper M.D. Jester is being treated for minor injuries in a Richmond hospital.
State police are advising motorists to stay off the roads with more winter weather on the way.
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7:35 a.m.
Utility companies in New Jersey are reporting that nearly 40,000 customers are without power, with the majority of those affected along the coast.
Atlantic City Electric customers have been the hardest hit with more than 32,000 without power. The outages come as a strong winter storm packing high wind and snow moves through New Jersey. The outages stretch from Barnegat Beach south to Cape May and as far west as Mantua.
First Energy, Jersey Central Power & Light, is reporting more than 7,600 customers without power, with outages along the coast from north of West Long Branch south to near Barnegat Light.
Gov. Chris Christie declared a state of emergency Friday night in New Jersey as a major storm threatens to dump up to two feet ofsnow on parts of the state and flood the coast.
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6:45 a.m.
Kentucky State Police say emergency crews are making their way to cars stranded along Interstate 75 in a major snowstorm with water, fuel and snacks.
The agency said early Saturday on Twitter that its crews and the National Guard are moving cars one at a time and that the Red Cross is establishing shelters for motorists. Police said no further traffic was being allowed on the road and cars were being diverted, but did not give more specifics or immediately answer phone calls and emails seeking comment.
It was unclear how many vehicles were stranded, but photos from local media outlets showed a long line of trucks and other vehicles lined up along the snowy road. State Police twitter updates and brief statements indicated the problem was near an exit at London, Kentucky — south of Lexington.
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5:57 a.m.
Kentucky State Police say emergency shelters are being opened near two exits along Interstate 75 for motorists who’ve been stranded by a mammoth storm that’s already dumped 18 inches of snow on portions of the state.
State Police officials tell Kentucky television station WTVQ (http://bit.ly/1Pu2rRP ) that southbound traffic was being diverted to Exit 76 in Berea, while northbound traffic was being diverted to Exit 41 in London.
A section of I-75 in Rockcastle County was closed twice during Friday afternoon and evening due to numerous accidents. It turned I-75 in both directions in Rockcastle and Laurel counties into a parking lot. Some motorists said they had been stuck on I-75 for 10 hours. The American Red Cross was providing food to stranded drivers.
The storm is moving eastward and could dump 2 feet or more of snow in some states.
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5:45 a.m.
Various storm warnings and watches remain in effect in several states as a mammoth winter storm that could dump 2 feet or more of snow in some areas continued to move eastward.
The National Weather Service’s website says blizzard warnings remained in effect Saturday for eastern and coastal portions of the mid-Atlantic, from mountain areas in Virginia to Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York City and Long Island, New York.
Winter storm warnings and winter weather advisories also remained in effect for a large area that extended from the Tennessee Valley to the Ohio Valley, and spanned from the Carolinas to southern New England. High wind warnings and watches are in effect for coastal regions in the mid-Atlantic and southern New England. Coastal flood warnings and watches are in effect from Virginia to Massachusetts.
Storm and gale warnings are in effect for mid-Atlantic and New England Coastal waters.
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5:12 a.m.
A mammoth storm that’s shuttered tens of millions of residents from northern Georgia to New Jersey already has dumped heavysnow in 14 states, including 18 inches in Kentucky, as it continues to move eastward.
The National Weather Service’s website early Saturday said 18 inches of snow had fallen on Ulysses in eastern Kentucky, while 16 inches fell in Beattyville. Between 14 inches to 15.5 inches had fallen in at other locations across Kentucky, including Frenchburg, Mount Vernon, Eglon and Lancer.
The Weather service says 7 inches of snow fell in Washington, D.C. while snowfall amounts in nearby Maryland ranged between 4.5 inches in Baltimore and 13.5 inches in Oakland. In Virginia, Reagan National Airport reported 6.8 inches of snow and Elma had 15 inches. Other states that recorded snowfall amounts greater than 6 inches included Delaware, Georgia, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. Various locations in Georgia and Alabama received between 1 and 3.5 inches of snow.
Snow started falling Friday, but the worst was still yet to come, with strong winds and heavy snow expected to produce “life-threatening blizzard conditions” throughout the day Saturday.
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