Nearly a foot of snow blankets parts of city as winds howl: NWS

Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for New York City and surrounding regions as snow blanketed the area Thursday.

The city was expected to get between 6 and 10 inches of snow, with eastern parts of Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan getting more than the Bronx and Staten Island, the National Weather Service said. Unofficial snow totals from the NWS showed 11.5 inches southeast of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, 9.3 inches in Bayside, Queens and 9 inches in Manhattan's Stuyvesant Town, per the NWS.

“The storm is tracking heavier towards the east,” Cuomo said at a news conference Thursday morning.

A winter storm warning went into effect at 1 a.m. Thursday and will remain until 1 a.m. Friday, the agency said.

The snow began to taper off in Manhattan around 4 p.m., but strong winds will continue to pose a challenge to New Yorkers and make the evening rush more dangerous, according to Cuomo and the NWS. Wind speeds were expected to be around 30 mph and gusts could reach up to 45 mph, the NWS said. 

There were at least 86 minor traffic accidents in the city through about 11:30 a.m., the NYPD said. Cuomo urged New Yorkers to stay off the roads as much as possible. 

"I’ve been on most of the roads in the metropolitan area this morning, and I can tell you it is ugly and it is dangerous and it is slow, so even though we are invincible New Yorkers ... if it’s unnecessary to go out, today is not the day to be driving around," he said.

There were 1,500 plows out on the streets and Department of Sanitation workers were operating in 12-hour shifts, Mayor Bill de Blasio said. New Yorkers can track the progress of the city's snow plows by visiting the PlowNYC map.

The mayor also warned that cars blocking snow plows could be towed.

During the peak of the storm, Con Edison was reporting more than 2,000 power outages citywide, more than 1,600 of which were in Queens. Those numbers have since subsided, with just over 600 outages citywide, as of 4:15 p.m., according to Con Ed's website. The utility expected to have all outages restored by 10 p.m.

Public schools were closed Thursday, but they were expected to be open Friday, de Blasio said.

The city Department of Transportation suspended alternate side parking Thursday through Saturday.

The MTA implemented its Cold Weather Plan, with some trains running local instead of express. Buses were also running with delays or detours because of the road conditions.

Commuter rails were expected to run regular weekday service, but were subject to delays. Workers were clearing tracks in order to have as normal an evening commute as possible, MTA chairman Joe Lhota said at the news conference with Cuomo.

The Staten Island Ferry was running, but NYC Ferry service was suspended beginning at noon, de Blasio said. 

All flights at LaGuardia and Kennedy airports were canceled.

De Blasio said he also ordered the head of the city jails, Cynthia Brann, to make sure cells on Rikers Island were adequately heated. Details about the temperature at Rikers' nine jails were not immediately available.

The high temperature Thursday was around 27 degrees, but after the snow, it will get colder, NWS forecaster Jim Connolly said. The low for Thursday night is 11 degrees, and the high on Friday is predicted at around 15 degrees. 

"It’s going to pretty much be frigid into the weekend," he said. 

The low on Friday night is expected to be around 6 degrees and Saturday has a predicted high of 13 degrees.

With Matthew Chayes