Historic snow fall to bury much of the U.S. Northeast

World Today

A city sanitation worker steps into his snowplow, Monday, Jan. 26, 2015 in New York. The National Weather Service says accumulations of 18 to 24 inches are possible by Tuesday afternoon. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

A potentially historic blizzard could dump up to 2 feet of snow the U.S. Northeast, crippling a region and canceling thousands of flights were cancelled.

The National Weather Service said the storm, known as a nor’easter, would bring heavy snow, powerful winds, and widespread coastal flooding through Tuesday. A blizzard warning was issued for a 250-mile (400-kilometer) stretch of the Northeast, including New York and Boston.

“This could be a storm the likes of which we have never seen before,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference in a Manhattan sanitation garage where workers were preparing plows and salt for the massive cleanup on about 6,000 miles of city roadways.

Airlines canceled or delayed more than 4,000 flights into and out of East Coast airports. Boston’s Logan International Airport said there would be no flights after 7 p.m. Monday, and did not expect to resume flights until late Wednesday.

Some schools were planning to close early or not open at all Monday in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut.

In Massachusetts, Gov. Charlie Baker warned residents to prepare for roads that are “very hard, if not impossible, to navigate,” power outages and possibly even a lack of public transportation.

Boston is expected to get 18 to 24 inches of snow, with up to 2 feet or more west of the city, and Philadelphia could see up to a foot, the weather service said.

The Washington area expected only a couple of inches, with steadily increasing amounts as the storm heads north.

This story was complied with information from The Associated Press