The Christmas Blizzard of 2010 howled into New York on Sunday night, crippling road, rail and air transportation on one of the busiest holiday travel days of the year.
The National Weather Service said 18 to 20 inches of snow would fall by midday Monday, with 2 feet or more in some places.
By evening, gale-force winds were blowing the snow horizontally, and lightning was flashing amid the swirling flakes, a phenomenon known as thundersnow.
States of emergency were declared from North Carolina to Massachusetts, and airports up and down the Eastern seaboard, including Kennedy and Newark, suspended all air traffic last night.
More than 1,400 flights in and out of New York were canceled Sunday alone.
Amtrak halted train service between Boston and New York.
Mayor Bloomberg asked New Yorkers to stay inside if possible and take mass transit if they had to travel.
Transit officials bracing for a tough rush-hour commute on Monday morning were running deicers and sweepers to keep subway tracks clear. Officials said subways were expected to operate on a normal weekday schedule, but the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North and NJTransit were implementing weekend or holiday schedules Monday.
The LIRR suspended service about 10:30 p.m. Sunday.
Most runs on interstate bus services such as BoltBus and Megabus were canceled Sunday night.
Bloomberg said 4,800 sanitation workers were working 12-hour shifts to clear the streets.
As the storm began to blow in earnest, panicky shoppers swarmed supermarkets and hardware stores.
"It's like the end of the world," said Mark Balsamo, head of seasonal sales at the Home Depot on Forest Ave., S.I., where snow shovels and bags of salt were flying off the shelves.
Richie Castellano, 30, who was preparing for his first winter as a homeowner, bought four 50-pound bags of rock salt, a shovel and a bucket.
"I'm kind of new to this, so I don't know how much I need," he said. "This might be overkill, but it's better to be safe than sorry. If anyone needs rock salt, just stop by my house. I have plenty."
As of 10 Sunday night, nearly 10 inches of snow had fallen in Fresh Meadows, Queens, while 13 inches had piled up in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.
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