The U.S. National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for many of the large metropolitan areas of the country’s Northeast, with heavy snow and high winds expected to impact the region Monday and Tuesday.
More than 60 centimeters of snow could fall in cities and towns from New York to Boston and into eastern Canada.
The storm system driving out of the nation's midsection also is expected to bring snow as far south as Washington, DC. But the nation's capital largely will likely be spared the "white out" conditions that are forecast for points farther north.
Travel in the Northeast by car, train and air is expected to be severely disrupted as the storm makes its way up the Eastern Seaboard. Strong winds blowing off the Atlantic Ocean also may cause coastal flooding.
The expected snowfall follows a pre-blizzard mini-storm that dumped several centimeters of snow on some of the same areas that are expected to be affected in the next days.
Officials expect widespread power outages to result from the new storm, which will affect the lives of tens of millions of people.
In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference Sunday that this "could be one of the top two or three largest storms in the history of this city and we need to plan accordingly." He urged New Yorkers to stay off the roads and to "prepare for something worse than we have seen before."