us thanks very much. that's it for me. remember you can always follow us on twitter. go ahead and tweet me @wolfblitzer. join us tomorrow in "the situation room." erin burnett "outfront" starts right now. "outfront" next breaking news an historic life-threatening blizzard could bring the city to a grinding halt. we are live in new york city. plus airports, mass transits shut down. people are ordered not to drive. it's beginning to head north, boston may be hit hardest with a record-breaking 30 inches of snow. let's go "outfront." ♪ and good evening, i'm erin burnett. "outfront" tonight, we're following the breaking news the

blizzard of 2015. i'm in central park in new york city. this is the epicenter of what could be the largest snowstorm in this city's history. this blizzard has been called historic and life-threatening with snowfall up to 2 feet or more in new york. as much as 30 inches a record in boston. gusting winds expected to hit -- excuse me. with winds up to 65 miles an hour. you can actually see it from outer space, how ee norm mace the storm is. it stretches from maryland to maine. 60 million americans are in its path. the governors of new york pennsylvania rhode island have all declared a state of emergency, forcing people to stay home. they have shut down highways airports and tunnels. that is historic. here in new york city shutting down the subways for one of the few times in history. the city has closed 6,000 miles of roadway banning cars from the streets after 11:00 tonight. that in and of itself a record.

new york city highway is also closed. trucks dropping up to 126,000 tons of salt on roads. and new jersey is shutting down trains until thursday to give you a sense of the scope of the storm. boston's airport is closed, there are ground stops at laguardia and jfk and newark. more than 6,000 flights canceled. while it's been snowing all day, the worst of the storm is just starting at this hour. >> what you're going to see in the few hours is something that hits very hard and very fast and people cannot be caught off guard. >> as we are waiting a press conference from mayor de blasio chad myers is here with me at central park. i had a frog in my throat. i think it was just the cold. this is pretty incredible when you think about the travel bans alone, wa alone, what they are expecting is historic. >> yes. the 20 30 or even 12 inches will be devastating for the

city at least for a while. 12 maybe for one day, 20 for two days 3 feet the weather service is still doing 30 inches possible. that would be a three to four-day cleanup. boston is going to get it no matter what. this is the story of the day for new york city. we already have 5 inches on the ground right now. it's freezing and more snow is coming. it's just getting going. the storm is off the coast gathering strength like a hurricane in the warm waters of the atlantic ocean. relatively warm. >> relatively. >> 47 degrees. but compared to the air that's 15 that's a big difference. that's a big delta. and that delta, that change is just like growing hurricane in the middle of the summer. >> and those winds that we're going to get, and tonight we could get also they call it thundersnow. it could be truly epic what we could see. i want to go to miguel marquez. there's an army of plows. where you are, really the headquarters of that you've been watching them load up with tens and thousands of salt.

how prepared is the largest city in the united states to actually deal with snow that could fall at 2 to 4 inches an hour? >> reporter: they are trying as hard as they can. sanitation workers are the heroes of new york city. they have been going all day long. we're in a bit of a respite. the wind is picking up again for the first time in seven hours. we can actually sees buildings in downtown new york. i want to show you the roads here. this is the west side highway. and its temperature has gone up a few degrees, from 23 to 28. it's more liquidy rather than slush on the road right now. and this is where all of the action is going on. this is a massive salt pile in this ild abouting. they've been pulling from that all day and loading up the plows. they also have garbage trucks that have been modified with snowplows in front and then they move through the city in sort of

a row of five to six different trucks all at the same time plowing as they go. this is the areas as well the place where the mayor is going to come down to this area with the sanitation workers, meet and greet some of them and we will hear from them later. erin? >> miguel thank you. an historic storm is going to completely hit long island. hurricane-force winds or close to it are battling that island. severe risk of flooding. ana cabrera is live in montock. incredibly strong winds could be heading your way. >> and it's definitely picking up out here. you can see behind me the wind is blowing the snow and creating snowdrifts. this is just a few inches of snow. but you can see how it's piling up quickly and it's going to get

worse and we're expecting 2 to 3 feet of snow before it all starts drifting. and then add in those 70-mile-per-hour hurricane-force winds, zero visibility and those winds are also going to drive the ocean to swell. in fact they are expecting 2 to 4 feet above normal tide and that's with high tide hitting around 2:00 in the morning. and so that is threatening coastal areas with flooding with the beach perhaps causing some erosion in that area and so damage and danger are the two words out here. the reason that it is a virtual ghost town in montauk tonight. people are heeding the warnings. power out ages are a real concern. being removed from new york city somewhat isolated even with the national guard troops and the 4 by 4s that the new york state police have it could take a while for people to get out here as the storm bears

down. erin? >> ana, thank you. chad told me you have less than 30 minutes now until ana is completely hit by that storm and that snow. there are extremely dangerous conditions in new jersey at this hour. the mass transit system will shut down in less than three hours. brian todd is out front along the jersey shore in asbury park. there are concerns about flooding. this is an area that is still at its knees from superstorm sandy. how worried are they that this storm could do all of this damage again? >> reporter: they are very worried, erin and you can see why. look at the way that the wind is hitting me here at asbury park. thundersnow, hurricane-force winds, we're getting a combination of that right now here in asbury park. yes, hurricane sandy, a little over two years ago, a lot of this area still not recovered yet from that and now they are

getting hit from something like that again. we talked to the young ladies walking along the boardwalk. they are worried about that. a lot of this area is still recovering from sandy and they say they are going to band together again like they did just over two years ago and get through this. we mentioned the tides. i heard you talking to chad and some of the others about the tide come being in. the tide here now just after asbury park it's not at high tide yet but it will be at 1:00. that's what they are worried about. possible flooding in this area. these wind conditions though right now are really what are crippling this area. it's hitting me square in the face. this is what is going to cause the whiteout conditions later on and the zero visibility. you know the wind here is really what the police and local officials are worried about. they are telling people absolutely do not try to venture out in this even for ten minutes. you'll really regret it if you do. you could get stuck and get in a situation where you can't see two feet in front of you. it's going to start getting

really clobbered with the snowstorm in the next couple of hours. >> and already i can see the wind looks like it's really -- i mean you could see the snowdrifting behind you. are you already feeling the wind pretty aggressively? >> reporter: we really are, erin. i heard ana talking about hurricane-force winds up on long island. we feel like we are getting that here. we don't know if the wind will reach that strength but it certainly feels like it. when you're out in it trying to drive in it walk in it it certainly feels like hurricane-force winds along the boardwalk because it's just catching every bit of swirling wind and, again, this is what is going to cause the whiteout conditions that officials here in new jersey are really worried about. they think they might get 1 to 2 inches of snow per hour starting in a couple of hours. >> brian, stay with us. i want to bring in our meteorologist chad myers. this is exactly what you're talking about. whiteout conditions hurricane-force winds.

you can see it behind brian but it's going to get so much worse. >> what was really interesting was the wind direction. almost right down the beach. if you take the wind and you put your back to the wind you take your left arm and you go that way. >> yeah. >> that is the direction of the low. the low isn't even as close to brian as it is going to get, which means the winds are not as strong as they are going to get. they are going to pick up. the storm is just getting going right now off the maryland coast, off the delmarva coast and travels right up towards boston. he's going to have a very interesting night. >> and the thing i keep wondering about, this storm is epic crippling life threatening. these are the words that officials are using. they are not just talking about it but acting on it. 72 hours ago we weren't even hearing about this storm. >> really this came on the radar, on the models sunday morning and we all went look at this bomb. and a bomb means that when a storm moves offshore with a lot of cold air in it and hits that warm water of the atlantic

ocean, it bottoms out and make as very big low-pressure center sucks in air from all directions and when you suck in air from the south, it's cold all the way from maryland and then right up and around and back in it. we're going to get ocean-effect snow or ocean-enhanced snow. the humidity moisture all of that relatively humidity coming off the ocean is going to get into the snow make more snowflakes and enhance the snow all along the coast. there could easily be spots with 40 inches of snow. >> 40 inches of snow it's stunning when you hear about it such a large amount of this country, the most populated part of this country affected. the other thing amazing to me given that we just heard about it yesterday morning, is how long it's going to last. >> yes. >> i mean we're talking 2 to 4 inches an hour and we're talking about 12 to 15 hours of it. >> yes. it is a slow turn to the left. >> yes. >> and this is only going to be going about 30 miles per hour. our snow is going to be here for about 20 hours. if we get the inch per hour that

we have most of the afternoon, do the multiplication. that's 20 inches. if you get that thundersnow with 2 to 3 inches an hour every once in a while all of a sudden your 20 inches can easily go to 30 and the weather service is saying that potential is in the city here but i know the potential is in boston. there could be bigger numbers than that in the berkshires. >> and that's where you're talking about the 40 inches or so possible? >> because of the lumbering storm. it doesn't want to go away. if it's an alberta clipper, it does 70 miles an hour and it's flying. >> so 30 miles an hour is slow? >> very slow from lumbering up the coast. think about it. that's about as fast as a cruise ship can go. >> right. >> how long will it take to go all the way up to maine? a long time. a couple of days to get there. that's how long the storm is going to take to get away from us. >> it gives us a sense at how still nature is so much more powerful than humans in every way. we didn't know about it until yesterday and it's going to completely shut us down for a

week. >> it still could trick us here and be heavy snow in new haven but never get back to new york city because that's the blow back around the storm. it's called the wrap-around. we have to get on the backside. if we don't get there, what you see is what you get but the forecast is for it to get very very intense. >> and some pretty stunning theatrics that you might see up in the sky if you don't have to go to work with the thunder and the snow. next we're going to go live to connecticut. a state of emergency across that state. a travel ban going into place in less than two hours. in massachusetts, a statewide travel ban begins in two hours. boston possibly up to 3 feet of snow. that would be an easy record. we're going to take you live to the streets of new york. all city roads in new york are going to be shut down at 11:00. let me say that again. this city is shutting down. and as we go to break, the worst actually since 2006 nearly 27 inches fell at that time. and here's what it looked like back then.

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the roads are already very very dangerous. and they are going to be very

hard to clear with the wind gusts we expect so it's dangerous to be out there now. it's only going to become more dangerous. >> and back with our breaking news now, a state of emergency in effect in five states as an historic blizzard bears down. much of the region in the northeast at a standstill. in new york city the streets closing at 11:00. it's one of the only times in the city's history that the roads will shut down. cars parked on major roads in boston will be towed and in kukt ket, a travel ban for the entire state. randi kaye is in connecticut. are drivers listening? are they getting off the roads? >> reporter: erin it seems they are. the governor wants everybody off

the road. new london is usually pretty busy. there's a random car here and there. mostly we've seen plows coming through. this area they are priority streets so they want to keep them clean. maybe people listened and got home early like the governor asked. let me show you this park here though where a lot of people come through. there's usually a lot of foot traffic and people walking their dogs. maybe we've seen a couple of people walking their dogs trying to stay home it seems, certainly trying to listen to the governor. they expect maybe to be home not only for tonight and probably for the next few days. since we've been here the roads have certainly gotten much more slippery. the snow is expected to come down about 4 inches an hour in the area of new london. winds could reach 60 miles per hour. 120,000 people erin could be without power after tonight's storm hits here. the problem is if the winds get

anywhere above 40 miles per hour erin the guys can't come out and fix those live wires. they can't touch them. it could be days before this town gets their power back if they do indeed lose it. erin? >> randi, thank you very much. 4 inches of snow an hour possible in some places winds up to 60 70 miles per hour. lieutenant paul vance is joining me on the phone. you have heard those numbers again and again. that's your big fear tonight. we are nearing the beginning of the travel ban in the next couple of hours where you are in connecticut. how bad are the roads right now? >> well i've got to tell you, the department of transportation has been out there doing the best job they can do and certainly making them passable. we're anticipating that the storm comes in tuesday in connecticut, that we're going to see it diminishing travel ability. the roads will become even more dangerous than they are right now. and we place all of our off-duty state troopers on all, ready to respond in the event that the

situation here in connecticut diminishes that much. >> and what is your biggest fear heading into the worst hours of the storm, given what we understand of course that this storm is moving incredibly slowly. could be looking at 20 hours or so of steady and very heavy snowfall? >> well certainly we're concerned that you know people are not paying attention to the media and the announcements. the governor has put a ban in place which we hope people follow. when the snow begins to impede the state of connecticut, it will become more dangerous. we would not put all of our off-duty officers on call if we didn't think this was going to be a dangerous situation. having worked a storm similar to this it's frightening and truly can be very dangerous to people who don't heed the warning. >> and another thing, these travel bans are going into effect. we're not sure when they are going to stop. and i guess that's partially

because you're not sure how bad it will be. there will be downed power lines but how long do you think it will be where you're telling people look you're banned from the roads? >> that's a tough one to call. certainly we would encourage people. we'll keep the media informed as our customers, the people we serve here in connecticut and surrounding states and certainly we would encourage people to pay attention to the announcements as they comfort. we're going to watch this storm and see how the roads are and see how d.o.t. and dpw and local communities are doing and the minute we can open these roads up we will certainly do so. but we must remind people also in connecticut it's necessary that you clean all of the snow off of your vehicle before you even begin to venture out once the roadways are open. >> thank you very much lieutenant. appreciate your time. let's head north to boston where brooke baldwin is. where you are, brooke it could be incredible. 30 inches of snow possibly more by the time this is done. that would easily be a record.

the highest official total ever recorded in boston 27.5 inches back in 2003. i know it's already started. are people there doing as they are told heading home early? what are you seeing? >> reporter: erin they seem to be so far. we've been standing here in the boston harbor area the water is this way. and you can see, if you take a look at the roadway, the road is pretty clear. we've seen some cars we've seen some cabs and even seen some buses. so far people are fine to be out and they appear to be a-okay driving. but, again, with what these other leaders are saying you can't be on the road in massachusetts past midnight and here in boston they don't mess around when it comes to towing. if you have a main car on the major throughway you have to move it or it will be towed. here i am in my snowboots, we'll

ride this out all night, it could be 3 feet. here we are. i was here in boston actually for a family event over the weekend and everyone here was talking about two things especially yesterday. it was, can the new england patriots get out of boston and get to arizona before this happens and, two, everyone's remembering the blizzard of '78 which i think was a little over 27 inches as well. so we're here. the snow is definitely starting to fall and picking up in the last half hour or so. huge concerns for people on the cape as well because of those winds could be hurricane-force winds. so stay with us. we're watching this snowfall and hoping everyone heeds those warnings do not drive on the roads after midnight tonight. erin? >> brooke thank you. we're covering all angles of this fast-moving blizzard. in new york city the roads and city shutting down tonight. the city is literally grounding

to a halt. in rhode island all roads are closed in anticipation of 30 inches of snow. and a look at one of boston's worst storms in history. back in 2003. that was a 27.5-inch marker and here's what boston looked like during that storm. ♪ go! go! go! he's challenging the very fabric of society. in a post cannonball world! was it grilled cheese? guilty! the aquatic delinquency is a larger issue to this ♪ you did it again, didn't you? yup. ♪ push your enterprise and you can move the world. ♪ ♪ but to get from the old way to the

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breaking news massive and life-threatening blizzard blanketing new york city and much of the northeast. we had an inch of snow an hour earlier and we're up to 2 to 4 inches of snow expected to fall per hour at the peak tonight. the subway the nation's largest, will be closed at 11:00 eastern. that's also when all cars must be off the roads. the storm even shutting down broadway and, just moments ago, new york city's mayor bill de

blasio said that conditions are about to get much worse. >> this is literally the calm before the storm. and it's about to start in earnest and people have to be very, very careful. >> across the northeast, 58 million people affected by the storm. hundreds of national guard troops have been called in to help. airports across the northeast have closed down and 6600 flights have been canceled. the roadways so far littered with accidents. a tractor-trailer overturned spilling beer across a pennsylvania highway. to give an idea of how big this storm is we want to give you a satellite image of the blizzard from spaz as it actually formed. again, what is so amazing about this is it didn't even show up until yesterday morning. chris welch is driving around in

one of our vehicles. the mayor is saying that the storm is going to hit hard and fast. the snow is about to get started again at that possible 2 to 4 inches per hour rate. what are the roads like as you've been driving around. >> reporter: well, erin yeah. we've been driving around for the last two hours. the mayor mentioned the calm before the storm. it really hasn't been snowing. just within the last couple of minutes. we started seeing flurries. take a look out the dash cam camera here looking south here. we're actually driving on broadway just a few blocks really north of where you are there in the heart of columbus circle. we're driving now and obviously you can see this is not a lot of traffic on the road. so thankfully it looks like from everything we've seen from driving on the roads, they are slick but thankfully they are not as many cars out. it's 7:30 right now. this would still be a very busy time of day for commuters, for people leaving work to get back

home driving through the city taking mass transit and, of course mass transit, as you mentioned, is going to be essentially shutting down at 11:00. in addition to the subways and the traffic ban on the roads, we know that the george washington bridge the holland tunnel lincoln tunnel all major thoroughfares here into manhattan, they will be shutting down as well. i have to say, we haven't seen a whole lot of snowplows out here and i would imagine that they are sort of saving that -- their energy their manpower for when the brunt of this storm hits. as you mentioned, when that hits a couple hours from now we could be seeing 2 to 4 inches per hour and very very high winds. we know that there will be about 1800 snowplows out in force later tonight. erin? >> thank you very much. meteorologist chad myers is out here with me "outfront." thanks to you. geal gail it is historic.

roads being closed subways being closed. when you put all of this together it is something that hasn't happened before. is all of it necessary? >> well we hope that there's a storm and that preparations are worth it. i think they are. people are ready. at trader joe's, there was an hour to get in. and when they get in a lot of goods were off the shelves. so people are taking this very seriously and i think that there will be a storm. chad knows -- you know better -- nobody knows exactly, but i think the preparations -- i've never seen the subways closed before and i've never seen this kind of preparation before. so i think it's good to prepare. let's see if this storm comes. but we are prepared. >> chad you're saying sort of the way this storm is this afternoon it was a whiteout outside of my window about one inch an hour. sort of right now, maybe a little bit of a lull and we are just waiting for the wallop to hit. >> think about a pinwheel. or even a hurricane.

you have the arms of the hurricane and the arms of this storm, one rotating around after another. it will snow it will stop. it will snow it will stop. we hope it stops before it keeps going up and up and up. i have a question for you, what do people do with their cars when the mayor says you have to get them off the street? where do they go? >> well, first of all, you know new yorkers, they love parking. they love that. the issue for me is not so much the cars but the subway. workers who have to take the subway to get home after 11:00, i am concerned. i've never seen the subway closed for a snowstorm so i'm more concerned about that and i'm mostly concerned about people who don't have heat or hot water, all the issues that go through a normal blizzard. and the homeless. >> what about the cleaning up? today what i noticed is when it was coming down fast and furiously, there was a strategy. maybe wait until it finishes and comes through. are they going to be ready? this mayor has been heavily

criticized. clearing snow in new york city is something very important to do. last time it didn't happen so much. >> 2600 sanitation workers on every 12-hour shift. we have 6,000 miles of roads but with 2600 workers on every shift, i think we're ready. >> and chad what areas do you think will get hit hardest in the coming hours in when you talk about the pinwheel montauk, a couple hours east of where we are right now, it's about to get hit with the big one as it moves in. >> yes. my concern is yes, we're going to get snow. people know it. i was down at the fairway on 74th -- >> a grocery store, right? >> a grocery store. you had to wait in line to get your stuff and then go back outside while you're waiting to get inside to the cashier. there's 150 people in queue just to go get it. i didn't get anything. my problem is i think we're going to lose a lot of trees and

if you lose trees in these outlying areas, the power lines are going to go down. people can't heat their house because the furnace won't work they'll be turning on their gas range because it will work and they'll be putting carbon monoxide into their home and that's the worst thing you can do. >> manhattan is underground but the other boroughs are aboveground. >> thank you very much to both of you. >> thank you. next we'll go live to the jersey shore. the heavy winds are coming in near hurricane-force. and the science behind this monster blizzard. why did we not know about it in advance? and as we take a quick break, here's a look at what the weather is usually like in new york city. you may think of it as a cold northern city but on average, the city usually only sees 4 inches of precipitation in the month of january. tonight, obviously, we could get as much as 30.

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and we're back with our breaking news coverage of the

historic winter storm and the storm will intensify with every hour throughout the night. brian todd is "outfront" in new jersey in asbury park. how much worse has it gotten in the past half hour? i can tell by looking at your shot of the wind it's getting gustier. >> reporter: it really iser erin. the wind has really picked up. i don't actually know if it's hurricane-force or not but it feels like it. the wind is whipping around here in this boardwalk and i can tell you, just kind of motioning out here the tide has come a little bit closer. high tide is going to be in a few hours at about 1:00 a.m. eastern time but i can tell you the wind has gotten much worse and that is what officials here in new jersey are worried about. the wind creating whiteout conditions. zero visibility.

people are not going to be able to see where they are walking. they certainly won't be able to see where they are trying to drive. and as bad as it looks right now, it's going to get worse because the snow really hasn't hit hardest here yet. it's going to hit in the next couple of hours and then continue overnight. so you've got this kind of wind coupled with the snow that is going to come and you are going to have some real just very very difficult conditions on your hands here along the jersey coast. this area could get maybe a foot and a half to two feet of snow, conceivably. they think maybe 1 to 2 inches per hour starting in about 9:00. officials here telling me that they are -- they are telling everybody to stay inside do not venture out, do not leave your car along the side of an interstate or major roadway because it's going to get towed. that really does hinder the ability of the spreaders, the contract blowers to get the snow

off the roads so it can be passable tomorrow when this passes erin. >> brian, stay with us. i want to bring in chief meteorologist along with chad myers. michael, if you can see the conditions where brian is along with the gusting wind as chad said it would over the past few hours, i have to ask you the why. chad myers says it didn't show up on the radar until yesterday. i said on friday i can't believe we're not getting any snow and all of a sudden we're getting an epic snowstorm, crippling and life-threatening across the northeast and we didn't even know about it. tell me how? >> the conditions were ripe with tropic conditions and cyclogenesis forming. that was actually surprising that the computers did not pick

up the magnitude of this. i really think that's the most notable aspect of this storm. we've had other blizzards. >> is the winds? >> yes. we had 19 inches here in new york city exactly four years ago to this day. we've had big snowstorms in the last 12 years, six of them in fact but the win isd is what is standing out. >> and chad winds and what we can see, i used the word theatrics, but that's what it seems like. we could see thunder and lightning and snow at the same time. >> right. >> if you're up at 3:00 in the morning which a lot of people might be because they don't have to go to work for the next couple of days. >> it's called convective snowfall. with the vertical velocities that we saw. >> it was going whoosh over my head. >> this could be a 4-inch-per-hour snow event. >> it's almost the intensity of a hurricane sandy, for lack of a better word but at 25 degrees

fahrenheit so all of the precipitation in the form of snow vertical velocities thunderstorms occurring with precipitation. very rare. >> brian, you're aware of where hurricane sandy hit along the jersey shore. i know you said you can't quite tell if it's hurricane force. it sure looks like it's going to get there. okay. i don't know exactly what happened there. it sounds like he didn't hear us. if you can hear me now, i was just saying do you think you're going to get the hurricane-force winds? and it sounds like he's definitely not hearing us. >> reporter: are you talking to me erin? >> yeah, i was asking you about

the winds and if they were going to be hurricane-force. >> reporter: we think they are. i mean they are certainly coming close to that right now, erin. i don't know exactly the wind speed but i know hurricane force is 75 miles an hour or more. it certainly feels like that here. i'm not sure what the forecasters are saying but with the wind and tide coming in that's when they are expecting potential flooding. you've got the snow coming in wind whipping around and creating whiteout conditions and zero visibility and the danger of coastal flooding in this area of new jersey this is a little more than people can take here. a little over two years after superstorm sandy. >> brian, thank you. even to your point there, you're starting to have difficulty with the communication. that's how bad it is getting. >> you have no friction over the water and it's going to slam into the long island boston and then we have friction here with buildings so the wind won't be quite as strong here.

but that's where the 75-mile-per-hour winds will be. >> to be a little technical, we probably won't see sustained winds more than 25 50 miles per hour but it's the gusts up to 75 miles per hour. >> well thanks very much to both of you. next perhaps no city in the northeast will be hit harder than the city of boston. they are expecting possibly up to 3 feet of snow. the mayor of boston is our guest next. today, people went to work on wall street and some companies did incredibly well companies like generac, which makes generators and douglas dynamics which makes snowplows, and power security international. [ hoof beats ] i wish... please, please, please, please, please. [ male announcer ] the wish we wish above all...is health. so we quit selling cigarettes in our cvs pharmacies. expanded minuteclinic for walk-in medical care. and created programs that encourage people to

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flo: it will save you money! the name your price tool isn't witchcraft! and i didn't turn your daughter into a rooster. she just looks like that. burn the witch! the name your price tool a dangerously progressive idea. breaking news. a massive and historic blizzard bearing down on the northeast tonight. when all is said and done up to three feet of snow could fall in some places. up to 40 inches in some places. this storm will be crippling. already nearly 7,000 flights have been canceled. up to 70% of flights canceled in the new york area airports. of course it will probably be all of them tomorrow.

the ground stop now in effect for all flights into laguardia and newark airport. george howell is in providence rhode island. george 9 brunt of the storm is headed your way right now. are folks ready for what's coming? you already have travel bans starting imminently. >> reporter: the people are prepared here. take a look over here. you can see plows are already out. they're doing their besht to keep these streets and roads as clear as possible. here's the thing, we heard this from officials, it will snow faster than they can plow the streets. the most interesting thing, though you don't see any people on the streets. people are heeding that warning to get off the streets after 8:00 p.m. eastern time. midnight there is a curfew in rhode island where you can't be on the road. you could get a ticket. here's another sign. if i can catch this. there's plenty of salt out here. the trucks are doing their best to keep the roads salted. as best they can. but keep in mind this is going to be a very strong storm

system. it will be tough to keep up with this one we're hearing from the guys on the ground. >> reporter: a big challenge. they only have so many people and so many snow plows. thank you so much george howell. out front tonight, the boston mayor joins me marty walsh joins me by phone. mayor, thank you for taking time out of what i know is a busy night for you. the worst of the storm going to be hitting boston overnight. the airport closed that a major step. how big of a storm are you expecting, sir? >> we're expecting a pretty big storm here in boston. all the broadcasts pretty much right on target. it's snowing pretty heavy now in boston. we don't have an inch yet on the ground but it's coming. we've been preparing for this for a few days. but today we pretreated our roads earlier today. we have about 800 pieces of equipment ready to go. we closed school down for

tomorrow and wednesday. we're making sure folks are in shelters that need to be. and we're asking people to check on their elderly neighbors, and anyone who might be not able to help themselves na in their homes. stay put and let this thing come through and then we'll begin the removal tonight and tomorrow. >> reporter: i know you have a statewide travel ban starting tonight. cars parked on major roads in boston are going to get towed. are people complying so far? >> yeah they have been. the government called a state of emergency starting at midnight in massachusetts. and put a ban into effect starting at 6:00. we're moving the cars now that are still out there on the maybe thoroughfares. we want to make sure we get the roads plowed overnight in case of emergencies. we have the fire and ambulances and police can get through the different neighborhoods in the city. so it's important for us to make sure we keep the roadways

cleared. >> reporter: mayor walsh, how long will it take to clean up from this storm? getting the warning yesterday that this will come closing schools for multiple days 30 even maybe more possible of snow. are people going to be possibly stuck at home for three or four days? >> i hope no. it depends on the snow and how much we can stay on top of it. we'll be able to take the snow off the street and get it to stations and melt it away. it's about making sure that people stay off the roads so we can get our plows and an pratt is apparatus down the streets. we hope to get the main thoroughfares down and focus on the secondary roads. we'll be plowing the secondary roads the whole time. it's really a matter of keeping -- getting people off the streets so we can get it cleaned up as best as possible. >> reporter: mayor, thank you so much for being with us tonight. the mayor of boston expecting up

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welcome back to our breaking news. what's being called an historic crippling, life-threatening snowstorm barreling up and down the northeast at this hour. snow scheduled to fall two to four inches an hour tonight.

travel bans in new york massachusetts, connecticut, new york city the streets are pretty much abandoned. subways are going to shut down. anderson is here in new york covering the storm as well. anderson you have a lot more coming up. it's incredible they're shutting down the subways. that is a big moment. >> a life-long new yorker i don't think i've ever heard of that before. and i forgot my hat. erin thanks very much. we're going to be on for two hours tonight from a very cold very snowy and as you can tell a very windy new york. and it's only just getting started. what people are bracing for is just now starting to arrive even though it's been snowing since midday. things will be getting much much worse, very quickly, very soon. stories about columbus circle the reason is we wanted to come up here to get a feel for the winds as they pick up over the next couple hours that