Northeast paralyzed by 28 inches of 'heart attack' snow as 100K+ lose power amid widespread outages

Several states in the East Coast have already reported widespread power outages with more than 70,000 without electricity.

Virginia was seeing the most outages, with 21,338 reported as of 9.45pm EST, followed by New Jersey, which had 19,790 people without power.

Maryland also reported 12,578 outages and Delaware reported 16,877.

The onslaught of snow had left more than 40 million people living along the East Coast under threat of flooding.

Low-lying waterfront areas were under alert as heavy snow and winds pounded the shoreline from the Mid-Atlantic to New England.

Harvard College and several other Harvard schools will hold online classes in accordance with a statewide emergency declaration.

The decision was announced in a Sunday afternoon email sent to undergraduates, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences students, and other Faculty of Arts and Sciences affiliates, the Harvard Crimson reports.

In separate emails and notices posted on school websites, the Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard Law School, Graduate School of Design, Harvard School of Public Health, and Harvard Extension School also confirmed they would hold classes online Monday.

NYC and the surrounding areas were facing a 'blockbuster' blizzard on Monday morning that could dump up to 28 inches of snow on the metro area.

'This will be a blockbuster blizzard, with some of the most extreme snowstorm impacts people in the Northeast have seen in years,' AccuWeather senior meteorologist Dan Pydynowski told The New York Post.

Power outages across the Eastern Seaboard have grown to more than 140,000 as of midnight ET.

New Jersey was reporting the most outages, with 43,493 customers out, followed by Delaware, which had 41,584 out, according to PowerOutage.us.

Maryland also saw 28,022 people without power and Virginia saw 27,385 without electricity.

The devastating winter storm brought what is known as 'heart attack snow' to areas across the Northeast.

Because temperatures were hovering around freezing, conditions allowed snow to melt and pack together into denser layers. This made mounds even harder to shovel.

The American Journal of Emergency Medicine warns that dozens of people die each year due to cardiac-related episodes while shoveling.

Up to 150,000 people could lose power in Providence, Rhode Island, Mayor Brett Smiley told CNN's Polo Sandoval

'There’s only a million people in Rhode Island, and that’s 100,000 to 150,000 households. So that is a significant potential impact to the power grid here,' he said.

The city could receive more than two feet on snow as winds clock in at up to 60mph, the National Weather Service has warned.

Snow has started to fall at a rate of up to two inches per hour in New Jersey and on Long Island, according to the National Weather Service.

'We are definitely getting the blizzard of 2026 right here now, guys,' AccuWeather Storm Chaser Aaron Jayjack said.

'Big time blizzard happening tonight and tomorrow.'

Federal employees in Washington DC will have an extra two hours to start their workdays on Monday.

'Employees should plan to arrive for work no more than 2 hours later than they would normally be expected to arrive,' the US Office of Personnel Management said in a notice today.

The grace period does not apply to 'emergency employees,' it said.

Options for remote work or unscheduled leave are also being made available.

Trained spotters have recorded five to eight inches of snow in the New York City metro area, according to the National Weather Service.

The highest snowfall amounts were recorded on Long Island and in eastern New Jersey.

Photos show New York City residents responding as snow started to fall Sunday night.

Maryland Governor Wes Moore has declared a state of emergency, activating the Emergency Operations Center, Maryland Joint Information Center and State Highway Administration Emergency Operations Center.

'The safety of Marylanders comes first and this storm has the potential to produce life-threatening conditions across large parts of the state,' Moore said.

'Stay off the roads, check on your neighbors and listen to local authorities. Please be vigilant and take this storm seriously to protect yourself and your loved ones.'

State police will have 70 additional troopers on duty tomorrow and utilities across the state are staging repair crews in anticipation of storm-related damage.