Gov. Kathy Hochul and New York state officials urged residents to stay home and avoid travel as much as possible during a winter snow storm that will impact much of the state, particularly eastern New York, beginning Monday evening and lasting through Wednesday.
“There’s no reason in the world to have plans to be out tomorrow,” Gov. Hochul said at a storm briefing Monday afternoon, adding that “this could be deadly.”
A state of emergency goes into effect at 8 p.m. Monday.
Commercial vehicle restrictions for tandem trucks and empty tractor trailers also begins at 8 p.m. for some of the state’s major highways:
- I-84 and I-88
- I-87 between Albany and Plattsburgh
- I-90 Berkshire spur to the Massachusetts border
- I-81 between Syracuse and the Pennsylvania border
- Route 17 between Middletown and Binghamton
The storm is expected to bring heavy snow, which Gov. Hochul said has the state ready to deal with power outages.
“This is going to come down like a brick,” she said. “There will be widespread power outages in a very large geographic area.”
The following equipment will be available statewide from regional crews:
- 1,617 large plow trucks
- 154 medium-duty plows
- 52 tow plows
- 344 large loaders
- 37 snow blowers
In eastern New York, the state Department of Transportation has 259 pieces of equipment, 449 supervisors and operators and 26 supervisors redirected from other parts of the state to the Capital Region.
The Thruway Authority is also responding by making 680 operators and supervisors available statewide, and has more than 117,000 tons of salt on hand.
“This is a long-duration event. This is not an event that will come and go quickly,” state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Commissioner Jackie Bray said.
After this storm event, temperatures will warm into the 40s and 50s by the end of the week, bringing concern and risk for rapid melting and flooding for some areas.