A killer blizzard that battered the South and the nation’s capital turned its sights on greater New York City early Saturday, packing gale-force winds, heavy snow and coastal flooding as it churned up the East Coast.
By the time the storm is over Sunday, one in seven Americans could be under at least half a foot of snow.
The weekend winter wallop has already knocked out power to hundreds of thousands, led to more than 8,000 canceled flights and been blamed for at least 10 deaths.
The storm’s impact could be felt from Georgia to Massachusetts, according to The Weather Channel. It paralyzed major cities: Public transportation in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., was shut down, and hundreds of drivers in various states were stranded on icy roadways.
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In D.C., which was forecast to be in the crosshairs of the potentially historic storm, snow was falling at a rate of up to 2 inches an hour early Saturday, The Weather Channel said. Nearly 2 feet of snow was already measured on the ground there Saturday morning, the Associated Press said.
Further north, in New York City, snow was coming down at a rate of up to 3 inches per hour. Meteorologists updated their forecast overnight for New York to get up to 20 inches of snow, a big jump from initial predictions for the Big Apple.
But the worst of the blizzard was yet to come. Strong winds and heavy snow that was forecast to produce “life-threatening blizzard conditions” was expected throughout Saturday, according to the National Weather Service. A half-inch of ice was predicted to accumulate in the Carolinas, The Associated Press reported.
The snow began falling Friday, zeroing in on Kentucky, which received 18 inches in some areas, the AP said.
This article originally appeared on NBCNews.com.
