(Bloomberg) — Boston is in line for 18 inches (46 centimeters) of snow Sunday and Monday since the storm arrived on top of near-freezing temperatures that prompted city officials to declare a state of emergency.
The National Weather Service forecast calls for 12 to 18 inches of snow across much of southern New England, including the Boston area, with the first flakes falling late Sunday morning or early afternoon. That marks the most snow Boston has received from a single storm in four years.
Travel could be “very difficult to impossible” overnight Sunday into the Monday morning commute, the weather service said. According to agency spokesman John Goggin, the Massachusetts Department of Transportation will make preliminary road repairs, with more than 3,000 pieces of plowing and other equipment on hand.
Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Monday told all non-essential state employees to work from home and urged private sector employers to do the same.
“On Sunday, when we start to see snow, I’m asking people to stay off the roads,” she said at a news conference Friday afternoon.
Ahead of the storm, temperatures are expected to cool down to minus 12 degrees F (minus 24 C) in the area early this weekend. Boston’s state of emergency will run from Friday through Sunday, and Mayor Michelle Wu is opening the city’s youth centers as warming stations for people seeking refuge.
Eversource Energy and other utilities have additional poles, transformers and other equipment ready to handle any power outage. Wind gusts could reach 30 miles (48 kilometers) per hour.
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