Northeast bracing for ferocious storm; Toledo area may get freezing rain, snow

Chris Oppenberg of Andover Small Engine Service in Massachusetts assembles a home generator for a customer Thursday with a major winter storm headed toward the Northeast. The National Weather Service calls for up to 2 feet of snow.

BOSTON — A blizzard of potentially historic proportions threatened to strike the Northeast with a vengeance today, with 1 to 2 feet of snow feared along the densely populated I-95 corridor from the New York City area to Boston and beyond.

From Pennsylvania to Maine, people rushed to stock up on food and other storm supplies, and road crews readied salt and sand, halfway through what was looking like a merciful winter.

Toledoans could wake up to slippery roads after light freezing rain, sleet, and snow overnight.

The National Weather Service posted a winter weather advisory for Monroe, Lenawee, and neighboring southeast Michigan counties.

Up to 3 inches of frozen precipitation was expected by morning in Monroe, while rain was expected to keep accumulations a bit lower in Toledo.

Boston and Providence, R.I., called off school today, and airlines canceled more than 500 flights and counting, with the disruptions certain to ripple across the United States.

Forecasters said this could be one for the record books.

“This one doesn’t come along every day. This is going to be a dangerous winter storm,” said Alan Dunham, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass. “Wherever you need to get to, get there by Friday afternoon and don’t plan on leaving.”

The snow is expected to start today, with the heaviest amounts falling at night and into Saturday. Wind gusts could reach 65 mph. Widespread power failures were feared, along with flooding in coastal areas still recovering from superstorm Sandy in October.

Boston could get up to 2 feet of snow, while New York City was expecting 10 to 14 inches. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said plows and 250,000 tons of salt were being put on standby.

“We hope forecasts are exaggerating the amount of snow, but you never can tell,” he said.

Blizzard warnings were posted for parts of New Jersey and New York’s Long Island, as well as portions of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, including Hartford and Providence. The warnings extended into New Hampshire and Maine.

In New England, it could prove to be among the Top 10 snowstorms in history, and perhaps even break Boston’s record of 27.6 inches, set in 2003, forecasters said.

The last major snowfall in southern New England was well over a year ago — the Halloween storm of 2011.

Mr. Dunham said southern New England has seen less than half its normal snowfall this season, but "we’re going to catch up in a heck of a hurry.”

“Everybody’s going to get plastered with snow,” he said.

Diane Lopes was among the shoppers who packed a supermarket Thursday in the coastal fishing city of Gloucester, Mass. She said she went to a different grocery earlier in the day but it was too crowded. Ms. Lopes said she has strep throat and normally wouldn’t leave the house but had to stock up on basic foods — “and lots of wine.”

She chuckled at the excitement the storm was creating in a place where snow is routine. “Why are us New Englanders so crazy, right?” she said.