New York Today: Big Snowstorm

Richard Perry/The New York Times Heavy snow is predicted for tonight.

Good morning and happy new year.

A snowstorm could bring near-blizzard conditions and frigid temperatures tonight and tomorrow, testing our newly inaugurated mayor.

Here’s what you need to know:

- Snow is already falling and may mix with freezing drizzle during the day. But significant accumulations are likely only after 7 p.m.

- There’s no impact on the morning commute so far. N.J. Transit is cross-honoring bus and train tickets systemwide.

- The evening commute could turn messy. Consider leaving work early.

- Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo warned that some suburban highways might close this afternoon. He advised commuters to use mass transit to get home. “We are looking at a serious storm situation,” Mr. Cuomo said.

- The city has issued a hazardous travel advisory for late tonight and Friday.

- Public schools in the city are open. Some suburban schools are closing early or closed altogether. (See list.)

- Alternate side of the street parking is suspended in the city.

- The forecast â€" a winter storm warning is in effect â€" calls for six to eight inches of snow by Friday, with the bulk of it falling overnight.

- Heavier snow is expected on Long Island, where a blizzard warning is in effect from 6 p.m. tonight to 1 p.m. Friday.

- Temperatures will hover around freezing today, with a high of 32, dropping to the teens overnight and staying there through Friday. Tomorrow night could get down to single digits.

- That, combined with winds gusting to 30 miles an hour, will make it feel like it’s below zero. Wear long johns. .

- A coastal flood watch is in effect tonight.

- Track the progress of city plows here.

- Advice from the Red Cross on preparing for winter storms here.

COMMUTE

Subways: Check latest status.

Rails: Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or New Jersey Transit status.

Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.

Alternate-side parking is suspended, but meters are in effect.

COMING UP TODAY

- Before the storm, Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5: The New York Philharmonic offers an open rehearsal at Avery Fisher Hall. 9:45 a.m. [$18]

- A docent-led tour of the exhibition The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter at the main New York Public Library. 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. [Free]

- Last day to see the Al Hirschfield-inspired holiday windows at Henri Bendel on Fifth Avenue. Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue also shutter their seasonal displays. [Free, look in]

- Last day of “An Animated World” a global children’s film festival at IFC in the Village. [$13.50, $9.50 for kids]

- “Let the phone ring three times, follow your breath, then pick it up.” Sharon Salzberg talks about meditation in the workplace, the subject of her latest book, at BookCourt in Brooklyn. 7 p.m. [Free]

- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.

DE BLASIO WATCH

From Michael M. Grynbaum of the City Hall bureau of The Times:

- Mayor de Blasio swears in William J. Bratton as police commissioner at 1 Police Plaza at noon. The event could double as an emergency storm briefing.

- The snowstorm, coming a day after Mr. de Blasio’s jubilant inauguration, gives the new mayor an immediate test. “We are 100 percent ready,” he said earlier this week.

- It is Mr. de Blasio’s first day working in City Hall. Expect him to be asked about the fate of Bloomberg’s bullpen. [Daily News]

- Mr. de Blasio’s schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña, starts today, too, visiting the Laboratory School of Finance and Technology in the South Bronx.

- Mr. De Blasio’s staff lost track of the historic F.D.R. bible he used for his inauguration, setting off a frantic search… [NY Post]

- What the First Family wore: Nanette Lepore, Rothman’s. [New York Times]

- The gossip columnist Joanna Molloy offered Mr. de Blasio a guide to his new neighborhood, Yorkville. [Capital New York]

Joseph Burgess, Thomas Kaplan and Andy Newman contributed reporting.

New York Today is a morning roundup that stays live from 6 a.m. till late morning.

What would you like to see here to start your day? Post a comment, email us at nytoday@nytimes.com or reach us via Twitter using #NYToday.

Find us on weekdays at nytoday.com.