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.
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