Public schools shutdown in new york city boston philadelphia. Mayors and governors across the area warning people to stay off the roads and stay home. Safety first. Your life matters the most and your health and safety matters the most. So the smart thing is to stay back. Any employer whose treating employees the wrong way will certainly have something to say about this. That is not a time for employers to be cheapskates. Whiteout conditions and treacherous roads will make driving anywhere extremely dangerous. I cant stress this part enough. Please stay off the roads. This has been going on for hours already. There are hours still to come. I want to bring in meteorologist derek van dam tracking this storm for us. Derek, where are we . John the storm has eerie characteristics of a hurricane. Stretching from new england and maine and long island into new york city as well. It is just we are on the outer periphery of the heavy snow bands. It is working toward connecticut and eastern sections of long island stretching to boston massachusetts, is where we have the heaviest snow bands at the moment. They will get upwards of up to 2 to 3 feet. 2 to 3 feet. Here in new york, probably 7 or 8 inches behind us. Maybe another five to come. We have pretty steady snowfall through noon on tuesday. Then we start to see that taper off. Just because the snow is done doesnt mean the storm is done john. The wind that is a factor as well. That will drive down visibility on the roads. It will allow for the blowing and drifting to take place. The plows helping the roads in new york city but the snow will be blown back on the roads creating slick spots. Derek van dam, thank you. I appreciate it. New york state is getting hit. A foot of snow here. Out in long island much worse. Governor andrew cuomo declared a state of emergency for the states southern counties. Thousands of flights have been canceled at new york airports. All of the flights at laguardia. Non emergency travel is banned on new york city streets which means you are not supposed to come out and drive at all. Subway rail and bus service suspended. New York City Schools closed today as are many other School Systems in the state. I want to get more on the conditions out there right now. Lets bring in cnns chris welch. Chris, where are you right now . Reporter john, we actually just turned east on fifth avenue by the iconic apple store. The glass cube. Look at the dash cam camera here. We are in the cnn roving vehicle. We have two sanitation vehicles in front of us. Two garbage trucks. These garbage trucks have been outfitted with snow plows. We heard the mayor describing the force of snow removal vehicles. We know they had 1,800 dedicated snow plows. They added about 500 additional snow plows they attached on to the garbage trucks. Let me tell you what we have seen. We have have been out here on the roads throughout the entire night. We started about 5 00 p. M. Last night. We went through some of the bans and some of the spurts of snowfall. It has been fine snow at times. Coming down heavier at some times and other times no snow at all. The snow plows have done a good job of keeping the snow clear. When the plows come through, it makes it tougher as you are driving with the slick surface. We know yesterday, it seems like the vast majority of the city commuters, they heeded the governor and mayor de blasios warnings to leave work early and get out as quickly as possible so by the time this 11 00 traffic ban was in effect most people were actually off the street. They did seem to listen to the mayor and governor. John. Really is quiet out here on the streets. Granted, it is after 5 00 a. M. By this time you would see more people out walking. The cars just arent here at all. Chris welch, thank you. That is the situation in new york. Massachusetts is the bullseye. It is bearing the brunt of the noreaster. The governor of massachusetts, Charlie Baker, declared a state of emergency there. Bostons Logan Airport is shutdown until late tomorrow. Theres a statewide ban on all Motor Vehicle travel in place. You will be fined 500 if you violate that. Dont. Stay home. The emergency vehicles need the space to operate right now. Hundreds of School Systems, including those in boston have been canceled. Classes have been canceled today. No mail today in boston. The Postal Service has closed many post offices across the state. National reporter nick valencia has joined us live from the ground in boston. Nick i can actually hear the wind up there. What is it like . Reporter you were talking to chris welch a while ago in new york. It is more of the same here in boston. The wind has started to pick up in the last hour. Thats causing lots of problems. This is probably the most empty we have seen the streets in the overnight hours of traveling through the city. The cars that we do see on the roads right now at this hour are emergency vehicles. Massachusetts department of transportation tweeting a while ago they have more than 3,500 personnel working on the streets trying to get them clear. Trying to get the streets functioning. That will probably be a lot longer than expected. Those streets expected to stay empty like this hopefully, throughout the rest of the day. This blizzard warning expected to last well through wednesday. The height of the storm was last hour according to the governor we saw it pick up here and it seems to sort of be sustained. That wind you were talking about, john, continuing to blow strong out here. Fortunately and much like the situation in new york people listened to the advice of local officials and stayed indoors. We saw a handful of people on the streets enjoying the snowfall. For the most part, streets are empty. No reports of injuries or accidents in the couple of hours overnight. We saw one stranded car. I talked to a taxi driver on the interstates. He said he saw spun out cars. We have not heard reports of injuries or damage related to accidents. That is also some more good news here in boston. John. Nick valencia you bring up a good point. This is the great part of the story. We are not getting reports of any huge numbers of accidents. People did mostly heed the warnings and stay inside. We are not getting huge reports of Power Outages across the states yet. Hopefully that will still be the case. Hopefully the Power Companies were able to prepare. Preparation makes a difference. Our thanks to nick in boston. Lets check in with rhode island. The ocean state hit hard. A state of emergency declared by the governor. All Flights Canceled at tf green airport. A travel ban on the roads. Classes canceled at university of rhode island and brown university. Our sara ganim on the ground in providence. Good morning, sara. Reporter good morning, john. People are heeding to the travel ban. Just in the last hour the winds have really picked up. We expect it only to peak in the next hour or so. These winds are tropical stormforce winds. Gusts up to 45 miles an hour. You feel that when you are standing out here. That makes it feel different. The pelting you can take out here. I hope you can see that john. You mention Power Outages. We are not seeing many of those in the providence area. That could partly be because the winds are coming from the north over land. Which is protecting providence in a way rather than coming from the south over the coast which could be brutal. It is cold here. It is about 18 degrees. It feels like negative 2. Another thing to mention that is important about rhode island, it is a coastal state. Every one of the coastal communities in the state this morning is under a flood watch because high tide coincides with the peak of the storm. With the worst of it. That is an important thing for Rhode Islanders to know. John. There is coastal flooding in rhode island and massachusetts and maine as well. Sara ganim, stay strong stay warm. This will go on for several hours. Christine romans we are just in the middle of it right now. We really are. The Power Companies say they have alignment and tree cutters on the stand by. Some brought in hundreds of people from the midwest with gear and trucks in case this gets worse. New jersey walloped by the blizzard. A statewide travel ban. Mass transit shutdown as the storm intensified overnight. Newark airport remains open but cancellations out numbering departures and arrivals. Check your flights. Many schools are closed around the state. Governor Chris Christie says they have been here before. We have hurricane irene. We had Hurricane Sandy. For better or worse, we know how to deal with the situations. I feel confident that the folks behind me and all of the people that work for them are prepared. You never know how bad these conditions are going to be. Pennsylvania operating under a state of emergency this morning. Hundreds of flights at Philadelphia International airport have been cancelled. There is limited Public Transportation in the city. Pennsylvanias governor says stay off the road if you can. There will be snow on the roads. Big heavy equipment out there. So be careful. If you have to drive. If you dont have to drive, dont drive. Flights are not moving this morning at the major airports in the northeast. Newark and jfk and boston and laguardia. There is the tally. More than 4,500 Flights Canceled for today. 3,200 canceled yesterday. American and united decided to cancel all flights in new york boston and philadelphia. Airlines are hoping to resume normal service tomorrow weather permits. They are letting passengers rebook flights for free. Flight cancellations affecting more than 250,000 travelers. That ripples throughout the country. The backlog could make traveling a nightmare through the end of the week. We are following all of the breaking news this morning. Historic blizzard pounding the northeast. New video and developments from overnight right after the break. Meet the worlds newest Energy Superpower. Surprised . In fact, america is now the worlds number one natural gas producer. And we could soon become number one in oil. Because Hydraulic Fracturing Technology is safely recovering lots more oil and natural gas. Supporting millions of new jobs. Billions in tax revenue. And a new century of American Energy security. The new Energy Superpower . Its red, white and blue. Log on to learn more. [ narrator ] mama sherman and the legion of super fans. Wow [ narrator ] on a mission to get richard to his campbells chunky soup. Its new chunky beerncheese with beef and bacon soup. I love it. And mama loves you. woman caring for someone with alzheimers means i am a lot of things. I am his guardian. I am his voice. 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Hitting the northeastern United States this morning. Let me tell you one thing about what is behind us. There is a vehicle ban in new york except for sanitation vehicles and the Emergency Personnel clearing trucks. That may be an official vehicle. There is a van. In two hours, no more than four vehicles driving by. Some 58 Million People in 12 States Affected by this snowfall. The wind gusting up more than 70 Miles Per Hour in some spots. Widespread travel bans. Non emergency vehicles told to stay off the roads. With we are seeing people obey that here. Public transport shutdown here and other cities. Thousands of Flights Canceled. Airports shutdown. Schools and universities closed for the day over this wide area. It is a day to stay home and stay safe and stay warm. How long will it all last . Meteorologist derek van dam is here with me. I want to start with the snow totals we are getting in. Roughly 16 inches in plymouth. They have another 12 to go. Plymouth plymouth massachusetts. There is still more to come. A few hours of the really intense snow bands and we will see that taper off in the Greater New York city area. We focus on baltimore and parts of rhode island and connecticut and eastern parts of long island. How has the wind been and how long will the wind last . 70mileanhour wind gusts measured at nantucket. That is bringing in the factor of windchill conditions. You can feel it in the air in new york city. You can imagine what it is like on the coast. We talk about snow totals and plows going behind us right now. It is hard to tell in places. The wind is blowing so hard. You can walk by a drift and in new york with 1. 5 feet. The wind is moving the snow around. That is the beauty of wind and snow. It will take it and blow it over. The plows seem a bit feudal. There is still 5 or 6 inches caked on the roads. I have seen four vehicles trying to get by. I dont know how they are managing to get by. It is not easy getting by. Christine. We are following the latest on the blizzard all morning long. Breaking overnight. President obama on the way to saudi arabia. A vice that it could be incredibly important for the war on terror. We are live after the break. Nineteen years ago, we thought wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad . So we gave people the power of the review. And now angies list is revolutionizing local service again. You can easily buy and Schedule Services from toprated providers. Conveniently stay up to date on progress. And effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our angies list app. Visit angieslist. Com today. E financial noise financial noise financial noise financial noise thanks for the ride around norfolk and i just wanted to say geico is proud to have served the military for over 75 years roger that. Captains waiting to give you a tour of the wisconsin now. Couldve parked a little bit closer. Its gonna be dark by the time i get there. Geico. 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The president is now on the way to saudi arabia to pay respects to the late King Abdullah and reinforce American Alliance with the newly appointed king. We have Michelle Kosinski with the latest on the president s trip. Reporter christine, the president is bringing a big delegation there. This partnership is important especially right now, of course because of isis. We know saudi arabia is a key partner in the fight against isis in that region. The u. S. Sees that as a vital relationship. One has managed to gather other nations because of that support. They will definitely talk about Counter Terrorism operations and yemen. The Houthi Rebels to cause the government to resign. The government the u. S. Was working with are a shia offshoot. The u. S. Doesnt believe they are directly controlled by the saudis. The u. S. Wants to discuss that situation with saudi arabia and also continued u. S. Counterterror operations in yemen. The u. S. Says will continue. The situation in iran also. One topic that was asked of u. S. Officials traveling on the trip will you bring up human rights. The blogger just sentenced to lashings there for what he posted online. You know the treatment of women in saudi arabia. Convictions and executions there lately. What officials said that comes up frequently with saudi arabia. We continue the discussion there. We took that as a no. Not on this trip. On a trip that has another purpose, mainly condolences and meeting with the new king generally what we hear from u. S. Officials is that there is a time and place for those kinds of sensitive discussions and clearly this is not it. Christine. Michelle kosinski for us in new delhi. Thank you. Japan is now looking to jordan to help gain a freelance journalist freedom from isis. The Prime Minister is determined to bring kenji goto and the pilot home. The pilot has been held by isis since he crashed in december. It is not clear when the pilots possible release entered the picture in the negotiations. Kurdish forces regained control of the border town of kobani. Late last year the worlds eyes on them isis fighters controlled much of the city. They posted videos with the flag flying