Heavy Snow Buries Connecticut

Governor Dannel Malloy has ordered a travel ban that went into effect at 4 p.m. as  a major winter storm dumps snow on Connecticut.

The snow began Friday morning and grew in intensity throughout the day.  Winds gusted to 60 miles per hour in Groton and blizzard condition were expected Friday night and into Saturday morning.

More than 13,000 Connecticut Light & Power customers were without power as of 7:30 p.m.  Almost all of the outages were in Southeastern Connecticut. 

Malloy declared a state of emergency and said limited access highways might be subject to closure as early as noon.  He is asking all residents to limit nonessential travel.

"Go home now," Malloy said during a news conference at noon.

Most of inland Connecticut will see a foot to a foot and a half of snow or more.

"People need to take this storm seriously.  If current predictions are accurate, we will need people to stay off the roads so that emergency personnel and utility crews can get to the places they need to get to, and to make sure that our plows can keep critical roadways clear," Malloy said in a statement. "Please stay home once the weather gets bad except in the case of real emergency."

The top snowstorm record is 24 inches on Jan. 12, 2011.

The shore might experience a period of mixing, which will keep totals in the range of 10 to 15 inches.

Transit companies, including  Metro-North, Amtrak, Peter Ban and Greyhound, have already altered schedules because of the storm. CT Transit halted operations at 4 p.m.  Metro North suspended service as of 10 p.m.
 

Criteria for a blizzard include sustained wind or frequent gusts over 35 miles per hour for three hours or more, visibility below a quarter mile, white-out conditions, heavy snow and temperatures in the 20s.

The storm will slowly wind down on Saturday morning, but some snow could linger through the early afternoon.

Winter storm watches/blizzard watches are in effect from late Thursday night through Saturday morning. You can view them here.

See the full forecast here.

Track tonight's snow on the radar here.

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