Finding Nemo- Winter Storm Bears Down on New England, New York

Michael S Gordon- Springfield Republican

Forecasters are warning that New Englanders and New Yorkers could expect to see a record amount of snowfall accompanied by high winds sweeping into the area heading into the weekend.

Apparently naming winter storms is a thing now, and the one bearing down on the northeastern corner of the country is called Nemo. Nemo is expected to dump anywhere from 2 to 3 feet across the region overnight and may also have wind gusts as high as 70 MPH.

Dave Roback- Springfield Republican

In Massachusetts, Nemo's approach is being taken seriously by the Commonwealth, where Gov. Patrick has declared a State of Emergency ahead of the storm's arrival and imposed a statewide travel ban on the Bay State's roads by 4 PM on Friday. The order left many streets and highways throughout the Commonwealth looking like ghost towns during what should've been a busy Friday afternoon commute.

Airlines throughout the region have cancelled more than 2000 flights as Nemo moved in as Boston's Logan Airport, Newark, NJ's Liberty Airport and New York's JFK and LaGuardia airports shut down on Friday. The delay also had a ripple effect as these airports as many flights were unable to continue on to their final destination, stranding thousands of passengers.

Boston's commuter agency, the MBTA, had announced the shut of down all subway, bus and commuter rail service effective 3:30 on Friday afternoon while Amtrak is halting all service on the Northeast Corridor between New York and Boston and is expected to suspend regional services on the Vermonter and Downeaster trains.

Ferries to and from Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard were also suspended on Friday afternoon, although a timetable for returning to service was much more ambiguous as The Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority's website simply stated services would resume "as soon as sea conditions improve".

The United States Postal Service announced that Post Offices throughout Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine would be closed on Saturday and there would be no mail delivery due to the storm [the "No Saturday Delivery" thing has been proposed as a likely cost-cutting measure for the USPS already- NANESB!].

UPDATE- The Associated Press is reporting that as many as 375,000 utility customers in Cape Cod and Eastern Massachusetts are without power as wet, heavy snow and wind gusts of 75 MPH or more were reported.