A blizzard warning is in effect for Washington, D.C., and parts of New York and New Jersey are under a blizzard watch.
The storm is expected to affect travel from the Appalachians to Philadelphia, starting Friday and continuing through Sunday. The Interstate 95 corridor in the northern mid-Atlantic is likely to be strongly affected.
Much of the East Coast and mid-Atlantic is expected to be hit with a weekend winter storm that the National Weather Service describes as “potentially paralyzing.”
Predictions include 12-16 inches of snow in some parts, as well as strong winds that could create blizzard-like conditions, floods and power outages. The storms are expected to begin Friday, Jan. 22 and continue throughout the weekend.
“This could be an extremely dangerous storm that could impact more than 50 million people,” Louis W. Uccellini, director of the National Weather Service, said during a news teleconference Thursday afternoon. “More than 50 million people will be affected by the snow alone.”
Uccellini said there is also the potential for severe weather in east Texas, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi.
“This storm is multifaceted,” he said. “Obviously, the focus is on the snowfall potential.”
North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., are among the places that have already declared a “state of emergency” for the potential storm.
