Powerful winter storm slams Northeastern US, leaving over half a million people without power

ADDS REMARKS BY NEW YORK MAYOR MAMDANI; OTHER EDITS

By Merve Aydogan

HAMILTON, Canada (AA) - A powerful winter storm battered the Northeastern US on Monday, dumping heavy snow, triggering travel bans, and leaving more than 500,000 customers without electricity across several states.

The National Weather Service said the storm rapidly intensified off the Mid-Atlantic coast, producing blizzard conditions with snowfall rates of 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7.6 centimeters) per hour and wind gusts up to 70 miles (113 kilometers) per hour in some areas.

Forecasters warned that coastal communities could see total accumulations of one to two feet (30 to 61 centimeters) before the system moves into eastern Canada.

On Monday, PowerOutage.us reported 250,651 outages in Massachusetts, over 137,000 in New Jersey, 76,357 in Delaware, nearly 40,000 in Rhode Island, and over 21,000 in New York – all states in the Northeast.

Snowfall totals mounted quickly as the National Weather Service reported as of early Monday that Mount Holly, New Jersey, recorded 19.2 in (49 cm), while Trenton, New Jersey saw 15.6 in (40 cm). Philadelphia reported 13.7 in (35 cm).

New York City Emergency Management said 5 to 7 in (13 to 18 cm) of snow had already fallen, with snowfall rates expected to increase to more than 2 in (5 cm) per hour overnight. A travel ban remained in effect until noon Monday, prohibiting non-essential vehicles from operating on city streets, highways, and bridges.

Air travel was heavily disrupted, according to FlightAware data. New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport recorded 1,097 cancellations, while LaGuardia reported 1,029. Boston Logan International saw 971 flights canceled, Newark Liberty International 966 and Philadelphia International 604, stranding thousands of travelers.

At a Monday news conference, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that while New York remains in a state of emergency, a travel ban has ended.

"But a hazardous travel advisory remains in place through midnight tonight," he said, urging all non-emergency traffic to remain off the roads.

He also announced that schools in New York will be open on Tuesday.