Northeast braces for massive winter wallop. Obama's FEMA set to fail again.

[Dan McGuire]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57568328/northeast-braces-for-massive-
winter-wallop/

Snow began to fall across the Northeast on Friday at the start of what's
predicted to be a massive, possibly historic blizzard, and residents
scurried to stock up on food and supplies ahead of the storm poised to
dump up to 3 feet of snow from New York City to Boston and beyond.

In addition to heavy snow accumulation, hurricane-force winds are expected
in coastal areas.

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, New Haven, Conn., and Providence. The
warnings extended into New Hampshire and Maine.

On Friday afternoon Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed an executive
order banning all non-essential motor vehicle travel statewide beyond 4
p.m. The ban allows public safety workers, public health workers, utility
and others associated with critical functions to continue working.

Before the first snowflake had fallen, Boston, Providence, R.I., Hartford,
Conn., and other New England cities canceled school Friday, and airlines
scratched more than 3,700 flights through Saturday, with the disruptions
from the blizzard certain to ripple across the U.S.

"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 heaviest amounts of snow are expected Friday night and into Saturday.
Wind gusts could reach 75 mph.

Widespread power failures were feared, along with flooding in coastal
areas still recovering from superstorm Sandy in October.

Boston could see up to three feet of snow, while New York City was
expecting 10 to 12 inches. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said plows and 250,000
tons of salt were being put on standby.

To the south, Philadelphia was looking at a possible 4 to 6 inches.

"We hope forecasts are exaggerating the amount of snow, but you never can
tell," Bloomberg said, adding that at least the bad weather is arriving on
a weekend, when the traffic is lighter and snowplows can clean up the
streets more easily.

Preparing for the storm: Tech checklist (WBZ)
The travel nightmare has begun

Airlines cancelled 3,775 flights Thursday, Friday and Saturday in
preparation for the blizzard in the Northeast, according to
FlightAware.com.

At New York City's three main airports, most domestic carriers planned to
cease operations between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. Friday, resuming after noon on
Saturday, FlightAware said.

At Boston's Logan and other New England airports, most airlines were to
cease operations between noon and 4 p.m., and would restart Saturday
afternoon.

Philadelphia International Airport is reporting delays on inbound flights
an average of 1.5 hours due to low clouds.

CBS News correspondent Terrell Brown also reports that Amtrak is
suspending service in the Northeast Corridor this afternoon, with no
trains between New York and Boston.

The last northbound regional train out of New York City will depart 12:30
p.m., with northbound Acela Express service ending at 1:03 p.m.

The last Acela train southbound out of Boston South Station will depart at
1:15 p.m., with the last regional service train departing 1:40 p.m.

Forecasters are calling the I-95 corridor today "treacherous," with white-
out conditions.

Brown says forecasters are saying the snow will fall quickly and
accumulate fast, so get to a safe place and be there, because you may have
to stay there for quite some time.

Flight cancellations (Flightaware.com)
Amtrak service alerts
Connecticut in State of Emergency

Gov. Dan Malloy said he will declare a state of emergency due to the
incoming blizzard, and said there could be limited access to highways in
the state. The governor ordered nonessential state workers to stay home
Friday.

Schools, colleges and state courthouses were closed. Airports and train
and bus services were set to shut down later Friday.

State officials urged residents to get home and off the roads as soon as
possible Friday.

Malloy also said utilities were anticipating that 10 percent of their
customers will lose electricity.

Some gas stations ran out of fuel Thursday night during the rush to
prepare for the storm.

New England braces

For New England this could prove to be among the top 10 snowstorms in
history, forecasters said, and perhaps even break Boston's record of 27.6
inches, set in 2003. The last major snowfall in southern New England was
well over a year ago -- the Halloween storm of 2011.

"This storm has the potential to be one of those events that you remember
for a lifetime," said meteorologist Terry Eliasen, executive weather
producer of CBS Station WBZ.

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,"
adding, "Everybody's going to get plastered with snow."

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. 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.

WBZ Interactive Radar - Boston and New England
At a Shaw's supermarket in Belmont, Mass., Susan Lichtenstein stocked up,
with memories of a 1978 blizzard on her mind. "This is panic shopping, so
bread, milk, a snow shovel in case our snow shovel breaks," she said.

Terrance Rodriguez, a doorman at a luxury apartment complex in Boston,
took the forecast in stride.

"It's just another day in Boston. It's to be expected. We're in a town
where it's going to snow," he said. "It's like doomsday prep. It doesn't
need to be. People just take it to the extreme."

New York City: Snow and storm surge

The city is bracing for up to a foot of snow, and wind gusts of 50 to 60
miles per hour, which could complicate removing some of that snow.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg is not taking any chances with this storm, after
receiving criticism for his management of snow removal during the blizzard
of 2010, where some people remained snowbound for days in outer reaches of
the city. CBS News correspondent Seth Doane reports the city is standing
by with 250,000 tons of salt, to be deployed using 365 salt spreaders.

Storm surge is also a concern, with the city expecting three to five feet
in some areas - not particularly significant, but for areas of Queens,
Brooklyn and Long Island that received so much damage during Superstorm
Sandy, there could be localized flooding where those coastal defenses are
down.

The organizers of New York's Fashion Week, a closely-watched series of
fashion shows being held under a big tent at Lincoln Center, said they
will have extra crews to help with snow removal and will turn up the heat
and add an extra layer to the venue.

Most schools across upstate New York are closed or plan to send students
home early.

Upper New England

More than 3 inches of snow fell in Portland, Me., by Friday morning, and
it continued to come down at a steady clip. The snow was blamed in a
pileup involving up to 19 cars on an interstate in Falmouth. Several
people had minor injuries, state police said.

Up to 2 feet of snow was forecast along the southern coast, with lesser
amounts across the rest of Maine.

Registration and practice runs for the National Toboggan Championships
were being held Friday as scheduled, but Saturday's races were postponed
for a day.

Hundreds of schools were closed In Vermont and New Hampshire.

Dartmouth College student Evan Diamond and other members of the ski team
were getting ready for races at the Ivy League school's winter carnival.

"We're pretty excited about it because this has been an unusual winter for
us," he said. "We've been going back and forth between having really solid
cold snaps and then the rain washing everything away."

But he said the snow might be too much of a good thing this weekend: "For
skiing, we like to have a nice hard surface, so it will be kind of tough
to get the hill ready.