A powerful nor'easter is expected to intensify into a "bomb cyclone" this weekend, bringing blizzard conditions, heavy snow, and damaging winds from the Mid-Atlantic to New England.
Blizzard warnings have been issued across the East Coast from Delaware to Connecticut, including all five boroughs of New York City.
You can track Winter Storm Hernando's movementshere. We're recommending that anyone in the region avoid travel, as dangerous road conditions are expected through Monday. As snow piles up and winds rise, power outages and flight cancellations are expected.
We'll be bringing you live updates of the storm as they happen, covering every angle of this storm.
(07:42 a.m. EST) Flight Cancellations
From digital meteorologist Rob Shackelford and Wyatt Williams
Flight delays and cancellations will be a major issue as Winter Storm Hernando moves up the East Coast. As of this morning, New York City leads the way with more than 60% of flights into JFK and Laguardia airports already canceled for the day. Boston Logan International, Philadelphia International and Ronald Regean National in D.C. are also seeing hundreds of flight cancellations.
So far, delays have yet to stack up, but we expect to see more as the day goes on. We'll update you when we know more.
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(07:05 a.m. EST) What Is A Blizzard?
From digital meteorologist Rob Shackelford
A blizzard is defined as meeting the following criteria:
Blowing and/or falling snow
Winds at least 35 mph
Reduction of visibility to quarter mile or less
These conditions last at least 3 hours
Blizzard warnings are in place for New York City from Sunday morning to Monday morning. Snowfall totals over a foot and winds gusting to 55 mph will cause major impacts on commutes.
(07:15 a.m. EST) It Has Been A Snowy Winter
From digital meteorologist Rob Shackelford
If you are wondering if this winter has been snowier than average, you would be correct. Some major metropolitan areas have seen above-average snowfall this year and crushed last years snowfall.
The most impressive is Boston, which has seen over 40 inches of snowfall this year so far. That is more than 8 inches above average and greatly tops last year's 28.1 inches.
New York City is also above average this year with a snowfall total of 22.3 inches. They only saw 12.9 inches all of last winter, so it looks the city will double their snowfall from last year.
