This afternoon Mayor De Blasio updated the city on the impending blizzard, saying there has been "some intensifying of the storm in recent hours." The storm is expected to begin around midnight, with some real accumulation around 8 a.m. on Saturday. At the same time tomorrow morning, de Blasio has declared a Local Winter Weather Emergency. This will remain throughout Saturday.
Current forecasts models say as much as 18" of snow could fall in NYC, though that could change, and the city is prepared to make any necessary adjustments. While there is no travel ban, de Blasio has urged everyone to stay off the roads, for safety concerns and also to allow the DSNY to do their job plowing. Any cars parked in a plow's way will be towed.
Walk, or rely on mass transit to get around, de Blasio declared. He doesn't expect any out of the ordinary subway service issues—"A lot of the subways will be unaffected." Here's the full press conference, which took place just after 1:30 p.m. at the Office of Emergency Management in Brooklyn. Expect more updates as the storm gets closer...
