By Alex Sosnowski – AccuWeather
Follow live updates of the storm here.
A blizzard will threaten to bring travel to a standstill from Washington, D.C., to New York City as well as across the southern Appalachians by the weekend. Snow and wind will brush southern New England.
Winds and the rate of snowfall will increase as the storm strengthens. Thunder and lightning could accompany the heavy snow in some locations. An all-out blizzard will unfold from northern Virginia to southwestern Connecticut. Whiteout conditions will occur farther west from south-central Pennsylvania to part of western North Carolina.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency at 8 a.m. EST on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, to help channel state assistance to local communities fighting the storm. Other states were following suit in advance of the storm.
The storm is likely to shut down some highways and could cause some airports to close. Ahead of the storm, Delta Air Lines announced travel waivers for flights through Jan. 24 at 19 different airports in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic region.
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