New York City awoke today to a standstill after a powerful bomb cyclone blanketed the region with heavy snowfall, leaving roads buried and more accumulation forecast before the storm moves out later in the day.

Snow continued to fall before sunrise, with Staten Island reporting more than 13 inches, Mott Haven in the Bronx measuring a foot, and both Flatbush and Washington Heights recording over 11 inches, according to the latest figures released by the National Weather Service.

In neighboring New Jersey, Freehold in Monmouth County — situated squarely in the storm’s path — saw totals reach 19 inches, Fox Weather reported.

The snowfall intensified early Monday, pounding areas from New York through Massachusetts at rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour.

The National Weather Service described travel as “nearly impossible.”

“The combination of heavy snowfall and strong winds will continue to produce blizzard conditions along the Northeastern Seaboard,” the weather service said Monday. “Sharply reduced visibility will make travel extremely treacherous across these areas.”

The system, officially designated Winter Storm Hernando, is forecast to keep dropping snow through much of Monday, with some parts of the tri-state region potentially reaching 20 inches before the storm tapers off later in the evening.

Powerful wind gusts reaching up to 60 miles per hour accompanied the blizzard, cutting electricity to more than 250,000 residents along the East Coast, including upwards of 100,000 customers in New Jersey alone.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency covering all five boroughs, Long Island, and multiple additional counties across the state.

Officials in New Jersey implemented a statewide emergency declaration as well.

New York City streets were largely deserted except for sanitation trucks and plows after a travel ban — issued through an emergency cellphone alert Sunday night — took effect at 9 p.m. and is set to remain in place until noon Monday.

Public transportation throughout the region has been heavily disrupted. All NJ Transit operations were halted, while the Long Island Rail Road and New York City subway system reported cancellations, delays, and altered service, agency officials said.

Air travel was also severely impacted nationwide. According to flight tracking service FlightAware, more than 5,500 flights were scrapped on Monday, and an additional 9,000 experienced delays. Airports serving New York City and Boston were among the hardest hit.

The storm prompted the closure of New York City public schools, marking what Mayor Zohran Mamdani described as the “first old-school snow day since 2019” following criticism over a remote-learning decision during the previous storm.

With the city still dealing with fallout from its last major winter weather crisis, officials mobilized additional workers to assist with snow removal. Some crews began shoveling late Sunday to get ahead of the initial wave of accumulation, Mamdani said.

A blizzard warning remains in effect until 6 p.m. Monday.

{Matzav.com}