Historic Snowstorm in Northeast; Looking at Conditions at This Point
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: I know. I'm lifelong New Yorker, I don't think I've ever seen that happened before. And I forgot my hat. So, Erin, maybe I could borrow your hat once you're done.</s>ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: Mine is normally inside. That's all I can promise you.</s>COOPER: OK. Erin, thanks very much.</s>BURNETT: Sorry.</s>COOPER: Good evening -- good evening, everyone. Thanks for joining us. We're going to be on for two hours tonight from a very cold, very snowy, and as you can tell a very windy New York. And it's really only just getting started. What people here have been bracing for is just now starting to arrive, even though it's been snowing since midday. Things will be getting much, much worse, very quickly, very soon. Right now, we're nine stories above Columbus Circle, here at the south western corner of Central Park, in New York City, and the reason we wanted to come up here is to really get a feel for the winds as they pick up over the next couple of hours that we're going to be on the air for. It's coming. The city certainly knows it. In just three hours, as Erin mentioned, New York is pretty much shutting down. I mean, I got to tell you, right now the streets are pretty empty. There's still a little bit of cars, some taxis out in the streets. But it's pretty deserted already. But in three hours, a travel ban takes effect. Bus, subway service ends, commuter rails stops, stop running. Many of the big bridges and the tunnels into the Island of Manhattan are going to close. And that's just the Island of Manhattan. In Connecticut, a statewide travel ban takes effect in less than an hour. All roads, all private vehicles. All up and down the northeast. The season's worst winter storm could turn out to be one of the worst of all-time. Conditions have been deteriorating all day. States of emergency already in effect here in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, all along the storm front, people getting ready for snow measuring not in inches, but in feet. And also gale-force winds, rising water, each of them dangerous on their own. But combined together even worse. It is all either forecast or happening already. We've got correspondents obviously deployed throughout the emergency zones, all across the northeast. We're going to be checking in with them throughout the coming hours. But first want to go to Chad Myers. I want to bring him in here, he's up -- up here with me. All right, Chad, so explain why this is such a big deal. I'm always skeptical of these kind of thing. New Yorkers making a big deal about the snow. It happens every now and then.</s>CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: And we never want to do the cry wolf thing. You know, we never wanted to say the sky is falling, the sky is falling, and then it doesn't. Because then the next time it really is going to, people don't listen. They just won't listen to us. So we have to be very careful on what we say and how much and still so far we're looking at 12 to 14 inches. That's minimum with a potential of up to 30 in some spots between here and Boston.</s>COOPER: But what's the difference here? You and I were talking before, you're talking about the winds is what really makes this of great concern.</s>MYERS: Absolutely. I mean, we've had snowfalls that are 19, 25 inches before. But the wind at 55 or 60 are going to take a lot of these tree limbs down. They will lose power lines. And now all of a sudden you're 20 degrees, the wind chills 20 below, and your house doesn't have heat. That's the rub. Especially if we lose 500,000 people without power, you can't get all those power lines up at the same time. You can't even start putting it back up until the wind comes down below 40 miles per hour.</s>COOPER: In a city like New York, their power lines are underneath the ground.</s>MYERS: Yes. But you go to Connecticut or New Jersey.</s>COOPER: Right.</s>MYERS: And those big trees that have been there for centuries are losing power -- power lines right now. Limbs are falling down. And we are going to see this all night long. Before it finally peaks, and I don't even think that is until noon tomorrow.</s>COOPER: All right. So give us the timeline, all night long these high winds are going to be happening. It's going to be snowing. Do you think it peaks at noon tomorrow? How long does the snow continue?</s>MYERS: I think this is an amazing spot that you've picked. Either you or Charlie or your producer picked it. I don't know --</s>COOPER: I wanted to be inside. I'm -- I've being completely honest.</s>MYERS: Here's why I love this. Because we can see the other side of the park. By 8:30, 9:00, we're going to start to lose the north side of the park. By 9:00 we're going to lose this other side altogether.</s>COOPER: You won't -- you're telling me, you won't even be able to see that side?</s>MYERS: Not. No. Not at all. We will never see that. We're getting one or two-inch rainfall -- snowfall rates coming in about 9:30, 10:00, and we may not even see the building that's right there.</s>COOPER: So noon tomorrow it'll still be snowing, still be windy.</s>MYERS: It's still -- it will be tapering off with the snow. But the wind will be blowing it around. So every time a plow comes by, and cleans your street, 30 minutes later, it's going to be drifted shut again.</s>COOPER: Wow. We're -- Chad is going to be with us throughout these two hours. The Jersey shore, Chad knows, already took a pounding from Hurricane Sandy. It faces one now. Our Brian Todd is there for us. Brian, as Chad was just saying, the wind is a real problem where you are. How bad is it getting right now?</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, it is getting very bad. It has really picked up in the last hour. It's not hurricane force yet. But it certainly feels like if you're trying to walk in it or drive in it because it is really limiting visibility, it's limiting your ability to get around. And it's going to cause whiteout conditions in the coming hours when the snow gets heavier. This is not a vertical snowfall right now in Asbury Park, New Jersey. It's a horizontal one because the wind is just whipping us in the face from the north to the south even though the storm system is coming this way. Anderson, here's another concern. The tide is starting to come in here. You can see it maybe a little bit over my right shoulder. You may not be able to see it too much in the dark here, but it is cresting over my right shoulder. It is coming in. It is going to be at high tide at about 1:00 in the morning here at Asbury Park. And that is another concern. So you've got the wind causing whiteout conditions, you've got the tide coming in causing potential flooding in these streets, and then you've got the snow. And we're told that you could get a foot and a half to two feet of snow overnight here in Asbury Park in this area in the coming hours. The New Jersey Transit System is shutting down in a couple of hours, 10:00 p.m., buses, light rail, trains, they're going to completely stop working then. So they're really bracing for the worst of this, Anderson, in the overnight hours.</s>COOPER: Hey, Brian, how ready are residents there for the storm? Obviously, as we talked about, one of the areas that was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy have preparations been well under way throughout the day?</s>TODD: Throughout the day, yes, today. But as I think I heard Chad and some others saying earlier, that this storm didn't really come on anyone's radar as far as being a real threat until really yesterday. So they haven't had a whole lot of time to prepare for it. We just talked to two young ladies walking down the boardwalk here. Not sure why anyone would want to just take a stroll down the boardwalk at this time of night right now, but they said they are really worried about some of the areas that have not yet recovered from Superstorm Sandy. We saw some boarded-up houses not far away from here. Here's a man walking his dog. He came down here earlier and said it was not that bad out here. I would tend to disagree. But there are some houses and businesses that have still not recovered from Superstorm Sandy here. And that is a real concern. They're getting hit again a little over two years later with just a devastating storm that can do a lot of damage in a lot of different ways right now -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: Brian, stick -- stay there because Chad is here with us. He might have a question for you. But again, I mean, for the folks out there, that's the last thing people who are -- you know just getting over Sandy want to see. It doesn't feel that bad right now, I've got to say. I mean, it's cold, a little bit of wind. But it's no -- it's going to get worse.</s>MYERS: It's going to get a lot worse here. It's going to get a lot worse for Brian. Brian, I want you to put your back to the wind. Straight back to the wind. I'm going -- we're going to watch you do it.</s>TODD: OK.</s>MYERS: OK. Now I want you to put your left arm out. And now point your finger with that left arm. That's where the low is. It's not even to you yet. So if you put your back to the low, put your left arm out, that's where the low is. It has -- the wind has to swing around almost 45 degrees before the low gets close to him. And that won't be for another five hours. Yes, five hours of it going downhill before it even starts to get better.</s>COOPER: And you were saying -- is it true? I mean, Brian was saying that he had heard earlier that we really didn't know this storm was going to be that bad until just about yesterday? Because I mean I was in California on Thursday and Friday.</s>MYERS: Yes.</s>COOPER: People saying there's going to be a bad snowstorm. But not as bad as we -- as this.</s>MYERS: No. We had a clipper come by on Monday. It was, you know, two inches for Philadelphia, probably four inches for Dubois, a little bit of snow for Boston. And then all of a sudden right behind that first storm it got really cold. And then a low pressure came from the south and rolled right up behind it. And it is really, really coming down. Especially now here. I would say from about Long Branch down to Brian is where it's going to get worse in the six hours, all the way to Montauk, and then to Boston and this cape.</s>COOPER: All right. We'll -- tracking northeast from here, it's a stream of weather warnings and states of emergency all the way. Brooke Baldwin is in Boston, she joins us now. Chad was just saying Boston is going to get bad. What is it like right now, Brooke?</s>BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, it's definitely picked up, Anderson, as far as the snowfall. I mean, it's really, really hitting me in the face. And you're starting -- you're starting to feel the wind as well. That's I think really one of the big story lines, we're anticipating over the course of the next couple of hours. I mean, just walk with me, let's not trip, and this is all the snow, it's all been here where Boston Harbor. You have the water over here, Faneuil Hall over here. And so this is the snow that's already been out, and they're expecting, as you all have been discussing, maybe, maybe three feet, right? So this is just about what three feet has made. This is what they're anticipating but keep in mind, Boston knows how to handle snow. This is a town that has dealt with this many, many times over. We just had a crew who came back from the North End, which is this great little Italian district, just this way. They said a fair amount of foot traffic. Not a lot of people, Anderson, are on the roads. People are out and about in some of the restaurants, in some of the bars. They're ready for the snow. The big variable is, as it is in really across the northeastern corridors, exactly how much they'll get -- Anderson.</s>COOPER: Chad, how big a deal is coastal flooding in the Boston area?</s>MYERS: Coastal erosion for sure. And there are a few neighborhoods that the water is going to come around the Cape and into Boston Harbor. And that water could go up about six feet. It will be a storm surge just like we get with the hurricane because this is almost a hurricane.</s>COOPER: Brooke, you haven't seen any signs of flooding, though, in Boston yet?</s>BALDWIN: No, not at all. I'm staring at the water, and it is absolutely calm right now.</s>COOPER: Good.</s>BALDWIN: But again, I think we're all waiting for the winds to really pick up. And I think just a piece of historic perspective, and, Chad, you know, I'm sure you know all about the blizzard of '78, because a lot of people keep saying, you know listen, Boston got the most snow in that -- in an X period of time, and in '03. But it was really '78, that's the chatter up here right now because that was when this city got stuck and it was horrendous damage. People were stranded on the highways. And at least people have the heads-up tonight. We've heard from the governor here in Massachusetts, you cannot drive, statewide driving banned after midnight.</s>COOPER: All right. Brooke, thanks. We're going to check on with you again. We're on until 10:00. And of course our coverage are going to continue after that. Boston's Mayor Marty Walsh, as you might imagine, a lot to deal with at the moment which is why we're glad he could take the time to talk with us briefly. He's on the phone now. Mr. Mayor, how's the city handling things so far?</s>MAYOR MARTY WALSH (D), BOSTON: So far so good. You know, it's picked up here. As you just said, it's getting really windy here, it's a lot -- there's a lot more snow. The roads are pretty quiet right now, which is good. We had our crews out there earlier doing pretreatment of the roads. And now we're getting ready for the full storm hitting us here.</s>COOPER: How much equipment do you have out there?</s>WALSH: We have over 800 pieces ready to go on the roads. Generally in a snowstorm we have about 500 to 550, but for this storm we have 800 pieces ready to go in the streets.</s>COOPER: And I know, obviously, the winds are a big concern for you because the snowdrifts and downed power lines. You have downed power lines yet?</s>WALSH: Not yet. But we're getting ready for that as well. We have pocket trucks on standby and we've been working with the National Grid here in Boston to be prepared for any type of downed power lines. And we're also, you know, working in -- with different teams just to make sure we stay on top of all this.</s>COOPER: Mr. Mayor, Chad Myers I know has a question as well.</s>MYERS: Mr. Mayor, we talked a little bit ago about the neighborhoods that may be threatened with a storm surge, even if it's five or six feet. What are those areas doing right now? What -- are they preparing for this?</s>WALSH: Yes. I know that there's parts of a -- parts of Dorchester where I live, not my house but parts of the area in Dorchester that there's some homes that are on the water. And this particular a lot of roadways in and around the Boston area that could be affected if a storm surge came in, that would have to shut down. We're certainly keeping an eye on that, making sure those roads get shut down if they have to be. You know, that is the concern of the city. The concern of -- we don't have a lot of water from Cape Cod or Situate, but we certainly have roads that could be damaged and it could be long term effect if it would be that bad.</s>COOPER: And, Mr. Mayor, finally, what's the -- at what point do you expect the storm to peak in Boston?</s>WALSH: Well, they're saying -- you know they're saying it's going to snow all night tonight, through tomorrow. You know it might -- we'll be plowing out there all night into tomorrow. And hopefully, you know, it's not one of those storms that linger. I think the difference in '78, the storm just kind of stopped and hovered for a while. We're hoping that it's going to continue to move on so that we can begin the process of cleaning up the streets and getting the city opened again so we can -- so we can continue working and do what we need to do here.</s>COOPER: And I know the governor of Massachusetts put a driving ban starting at midnight for all nonessential vehicles. Your subway systems, buses, commuter trains also halt in midnight. Anything you else you want to tell the people at your city?</s>WALSH: Yes. We -- there's a parking ban in effect now. Just like to ask everyone, please, if you got your cars on the main thoroughfares, get them off there. And also just to check on your neighbors, make sure that your neighbors are safe, particularly any elderly neighbors or somebody who might be disabled, make sure they're all right, make sure they have enough food and supplies. They need to get through the next couple of days. And I just ask everyone please stay off the roads. I'd rather be safe. Don't get curious and take a walk down the beach, don't get curious and walk around. You know, the plows can't see you, cars can't see you. If you see homeless folks, call 911 so we can get all the homeless folks off the street. We've been doing that all day long. And just be -- you know, courtesy to your neighbors and make sure everyone's safe.</s>COOPER: Yes. Bringing people together. Mr. Mayor, thank you so much. Good luck to you. We'll continue checking with you. A quick reminder, make sure you set your DVR, you can watch 360 whenever you want. Coming up next, what it looks like out on the tip of Long Island expected to take worst of this massive storm. We'll be right back.