Winter Storm Jonas Update: Blizzard Pummels South, Ramps Up For East Coast

UPDATE: 10:10 a.m. EST — The massive winter storm working its way up the East Coast and sporting winds as high as 70 mph dumped nearly 2 feet of snow in the Washington area before aiming for Philadelphia and New York. Weather emergencies have been declared in at least 10 states, Reuters reported.

Tides, exacerbated by a full moon, flooded coastal cities along the New Jersey coast near Atlantic City, areas still recovering from Superstorm Sandy, which hit three years ago. Officials urged people to stay indoors.

Transit officials in Washington shut down the area’s subway system through Sunday. New York City canceled bus service as of noon and was monitoring whether subway service would need to be suspended.

MSNBC reported winds were so high, a snowplow was overturned in Philadelphia. A thousand accidents were reported on Virginia roads. At least 10 fatalities were reported.

UPDATE: 9:16 p.m. EST — New Jersey Transit is expected to stop running at 2 a.m. EST Saturday until further notice due to a snowstorm, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said, WABC-TV reported. Christie declared a state of emergency Friday night, prior to the looming snowstorm.

"This is my 17th snow emergency since I've been governor, so we know what we are doing, but we will keep our eye on the ball," Christie wrote on Twitter.

Original Story:

A fierce winter storm began to pummel the U.S. South on Friday, burying weekend plans under snow. As of Friday evening, more than 67 million Americans in 19 states were under blizzard or winter storm warnings, Weather.com reported.

The storm, dubbed Jonas by the Weather Channel, had dumped 18 inches of snow in western North Carolina and up to 16 inches in eastern Kentucky as of Friday afternoon, and conditions were expected to ramp up Friday evening through Saturday as it moved over the mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Snow arrived Friday morning in Washington, which was expected to experience some of the worst of the storm’s fury. The capital had anticipated the worst of the storm to occur Friday night into Saturday morning.

"It has life-and-death implications, and (people) should treat it that way," D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser warned residents, CNN reported. "People should hunker down, shelter in place and stay off the roads."

Blizzard warnings also were put in place for Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio issued an emergency weather declaration from 8 a.m. until midnight Saturday and urged residents to stay off the roads.

"From delivering extra meals for homebound seniors to de-icing our roads and bridges, we are taking every step to prepare our five boroughs for the coming snowfall," said de Blasio, CNN reported.

As of Friday evening, more than 6,500 U.S. flights were canceled across the nation, and an airplane even reportedly rolled off the runway at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. More than 70,000 people have reportedly lost electricity so far.

Coastal regions from New Jersey to New York's Long Island and southern New England should expect flooding, freezing temperatures and erosion along their shorelines, while the Deep South can expect freezing temperatures, heavy rain and thunderstorms.