As arctic temperatures settle across the nation, commuters in a number of major cities - particularly New York City - are finding that public transportation service may be curtailed or even suspended. With the National Weather Service issuing a winter storm warning for Southern New York State, precautions anticipate what is expected to be the second-largest storm of the season.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has issued a call for New Yorkers to stay home. "Tonight during rush hour, if you have the option of using mass transit, please use mass transit," the mayor said in a press conference, as reported by the Gothamist. "If you do not need to go out tonight, do not go out. The fewer vehicles on the road, the better job the Sanitation Department can do."
In addition, the MTA, per its website, "urges customers to leave work early today and finish traveling early tonight, especially those who use Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road. The storm has arrived earlier than predicted, bringing higher snow accumulation and stronger wind gusts, raising the prospect of snow drifts of up to two feet. Service on railroads, subways and buses can be curtailed or suspended entirely or on a route-by-route basis depending on snowfall accumulation. If you do not need to travel tonight, we urge you not to. If you must travel, monitor Service Status on this page for the most up-to-date information."
This bout of chill - which will reach from the Upper Great Plains through the Southeast and encompassing the whole of the Northeast - will drop temperatures to between 10 and 25 degrees below average. Multiple cold fronts will cause the atypically cold air to linger until early next week. While temperatures - in general - will not be too far from the typical range for early January, sub-zero wind chill will make the situation potentially dangerous.
Lows on Thursday and Friday can reach below zero in areas as far south as central Illinois and central Indiana. Minneapolis will see a low of -16 on Wednesday and -11 on Thursday.
Throughout New York City, more than 800 workers were dispatched to shovel and salt the subway platforms and stairways. More than 1,700 track and signal workers were onsite to clear switches of ice and snow-buildup. Four of the city's subway de-icing cars have been deployed and the Department of Buses has placed into service more than 50 pieces of snow-clearing equipment to clear bus routes. Despite this, the department anticipates a service rollback of as much as 20 percent.
The weather promises to make this year's Super Bowl, which will be held Feb. 2 at Met Life Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., the coldest ever. While the storm is projected to conclude before game day, the AccuWeather forecast is projecting a low of 22 degrees, two degrees below the historical average.
As MetLife Stadium is an open stadium, there is a fear of exposure for the tens of thousands expected to be in attendance. There are also fears that public transportation to the stadium may be endangered, although forecasts call for clear skies Super Bowl Sunday.
"A little bit of snow during the game will make it all that much more historical, all that much more romantic, all that much more competitive and fun, I think - all that much more visual," said Frank Supovitz, the NFL's senior vice president of events, according to nj.com.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
