LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Millions of people along the East Coast are waking up this morning to heavy snow and high winds. The Northeast and parts of the mid-Atlantic are in the midst of a big winter storm, one that has already caused power outages. Some places are forecasted to have blizzard conditions with little visibility. WBUR reporter Miriam Wasser joins us now from one of our member stations in Boston. And she's watching this winter storm from her window. Miriam, good morning.
MIRIAM WASSER, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: OK, so you're in the middle of this. Tell me what you're seeing outside your window and what's happening throughout the region.
WASSER: Yeah, sure. So I live about 25 miles outside of Boston. And this is an area that's supposed to get 18 to 24 inches by the time this storm ends later today.
FADEL: That's a lot.
WASSER: I think it's snowed about half a foot. Yeah. It's snowed about half a foot overnight, and the National Weather Service is predicting about 1 to 3 inches per hour over the next few hours, so it should really start piling up soon. It's also really windy, with gusts of up to 50 miles per hour in some areas. Elsewhere, the snow has been falling hard overnight. Parts of New York and coastal New Jersey already have more than a foot of snow.
FADEL: So what have states been doing to prepare?
WASSER: Yeah, ahead of this storm, the governors of several states in the region declared states of emergency and pleaded with the public to stay off the roads. Some even issued travel bans. That's because between the heavy snow, wind and low visibility, the roads are just going to be a mess. Here's Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey on this point.
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MAURA HEALEY: Every car that gets stranded, runs down, slips, crashes, you are creating burden for our first responders, who may need to be deployed elsewhere.
WASSER: I'll also note that schools are closed in much of the region, including all of Boston and New York City. And the website FlightAware shows that thousands of flights have been delayed or canceled at major airports like JFK, LaGuardia, and Logan in Boston.
FADEL: OK, so beyond travel, what are the other big concerns in the parts of the country that are dealing with these blizzard conditions?
WASSER: Yeah, I'd say one of the biggest concerns right now is prolonged power outages. This storm is bringing wet, heavy snow, which weighs down trees and branches and makes it more likely that they'll fall on power lines. You know, we had a big storm in the region a couple of weeks ago. But that was fluffy, light snow. And so this, you know, according to local meteorologists, is just a totally different situation. I'll say, I feel really grateful that I have power right now because elsewhere in Massachusetts, the utility companies are reporting that the electricity is out in more than 80,000 households right now.
FADEL: Wow.
WASSER: Yeah. And in New Jersey, more than 100,000 people are without power. And, Leila, you know, we often see power outages in big storms. But Olessa Stepanova of Eversource, which is one of the big utility companies out here, she told me that getting the lights back on could take hours, if not days in some instances.
OLESSA STEPANOVA: Because of the severity and the duration of the storm, there may be periods where our crews are simply unable to safely access damage.
WASSER: I'll just add that I got a text from my utility company warning that some outages could take three to five days to fix. So in some, you know, the snow is forecasted to keep falling all day. And we'll almost certainly see more outages. We're also likely to see some coastal flooding. And then when the storm is over, we dig out.
FADEL: Miriam Wasser is a reporter at member station WBUR in Boston. Miriam, stay warm. And I hope the power stays on. Thank you.
WASSER: Thanks.
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