What You Need to Know About the Snowstorm

The National Weather Service estimates that up to 9 inches of snow will accumulate in the city, New Jersey and Westchester County by Friday. The mix of wind and snowfall will create limited visibility throughout the region, and motorists can expect slippery, snow-covered roads. Winds of up to 35 miles per hour are expected to create a windchill as cold as 20 degrees below zero. Residents are strongly urged to stay indoors, but those who must go outside were advised to dress warmly, carry emergency supplies and use public transportation. The Red Cross has advice staying safe in such weather.

Here’s what you need to know:

Transportation

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority has suspended express service on the subway for the night; all trains are running local. Metro-North Railroad and the Long Island Rail Road are operating on reduced schedules. Check the latest status here.

New Jersey Transit is operating on a reduced schedule, and the system is cross-honoring bus and train tickets systemwide. Keep up with alerts here.

Newark, Kennedy and La Guardia airports remain open, although hundreds of flights have been canceled, stranding thousands of passengers, many of whom were wrapping up holiday travel. If you are traveling, check with your airline before heading to the airport.

Passengers traveling up and down the Northeast corridor on regional bus operators like Megabus, BoltBus and Greyhound also face delays and cancellations. For more information, check with your carrier.

Roads

The Long Island Expressway and the New York State Thruway from New York City to Albany will be closed from midnight Thursday until 5 a.m. Friday. Motorists who enter the closed roadways could be charged with a misdemeanor that carries a fine and up to one year of jail time. Check traffic map or radio reports on the 1s or the 8s for updates.

The city has issued a hazardous-travel advisory effective until 1 p.m. Friday.

The city has deployed 450 salt spreaders since early Thursday morning, and 1,700 sanitation trucks have been outfitted with plows. Track the progress of city snowplows here.

Alternate-side parking rules have been suspended in the city to facilitate snow removal.

Schools

Mayor Bill de Blasio told parents to assume schools would be open on Friday, although a decision would not be made until Friday morning. All field trips and after-school activities were canceled.

Some colleges and non-public schools will be closed on Friday. View them here.

Some schools in Westchester County will be closed on Friday.

Hundreds of schools and businesses in New Jersey will be closed on Friday.

A Snow Day Coming? Dante’s Friends Want to Know

Being the son of a mayor unquestionably has its advantages. Dante de Blasio will have four years or more to learn what those advantages are, and to decide how he will play them. But it has taken just one day - the one frozen and overcast day since his father’s inauguration on - to experience the drawbacks.

The Facebook page of Dante, 16, is private, but according to a screenshot making the rounds on Wednesday, his friends wasted no time pursuing an urgent matter with him.

The exchange raised a host of questions. Would Dante oblige the request, tipping off a few key contacts before the rest of the city was informed? Did Dante’s post (“I’m trying yo convince my dad”) contain a typo, behind which lies the revelation that he is trying to influence city policy? Or was it correctly typed, and an invitation for his friend to undertake lobbying efforts of his own? When did “Old man winter” join the administration, and what does his appointment portend about the many City Hall offices that Mayor Bill de Blasio has yet to fill?

Officially, the de Blasio administration says the schools chancellor, Carmen Fariña, will make the decision based on the forecast and in consultation with other city agencies. As for Dante’s role, the administration had no comment.

A Smile Defuses Subway Wrath

Dear Diary:

Getting squeezed into an overpacked No. 6 train is one thing. But getting stuffed into a 6 train where people will not move? That is just anger on a whole new level.

Running five minutes behind schedule, I was not particularly pleased to see that the 6 train had more and more people shuffling in at every stop. Finally, after the mechanical voice announced the 96th Street stop, I was more than eager to get off of the airless dungeon of a subway. However, I was on a train with New Yorkers, which meant after I exchanged no less than five “excuse me’s,” I had taken only a few small steps.

Fuming, I was about to push a person in front of me, when this figure moved away and looked at me. It was a young girl of short stature, with a flowing dress the color of cool summer grass and a little pink bow in her honey-colored hair. She gave off the impression of being a wildflower in a field of weeds.

The little girl promptly smiled at me, showing off her pearly teeth. She said to me: “Sorry! Have a great day!”

Read all recent entries and our updated submissions guidelines. Reach us via email diary@nytimes.com or follow @NYTMetro on Twitter using the hashtag #MetDiary.

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.

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