MILLIONS IN THE NORTHEAST BRACING FOR THEWORST

Major winter storm expected to unleash wind, snow and chaos across 1,000miles

Travel chaos was expected to reach a peak Tuesday as a potentially devastating storm bore down along a swath of the East Coast from the mountains of North Carolina to Maine. Thousands of flights were canceled, and authorities feared heavy snow would cause power outages and major traffic disruptions.

Almost 20 million people in parts of eight states— including New York City — were under a blizzard warning. Winter storm watches and warnings were in effect on the coast, a distance of more than 1,000 miles.

The nor’easter was forecast to rage up the East Coast into the overnight hours Monday and through most of Tuesday, slamming some areas with more than a foot of snow and wind gusts of 60 mph or more. Much of the storm’s energy will be

transferred from a storm that pasted the Midwest on Sunday and Monday.

“A fairly large area of the Northeast should see a foot or more of snow,” National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Hayes said. He said the bull’s- eye for the most snow continues to be southeastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey and the Lower Hudson River Valley in New York, which could see 18 inches.

New England also is a target: The forecast in Boston called for 10 to 16 inches.

More than 350,000 airline passengers will be affected by cancellations from snowstorms in the Midwest and Northeast, according to Flight Aware. com.

“The storm will cripple air travel in the Northeast” on Tuesday with 4,611 cancellations, including nearly half of those scheduled for Washington’s National and Dulles airports, two- thirds of the flights involving Boston and more than 80% of the flights involving Baltimore- Washington and Newark airports, according to Flight Aware.

TIM HYNDS, AP A weakening late- winter storm that moved through Sioux City, Iowa, and the Midwest late Sunday into Monday, leaving up to a foot of snow, was poised to fuel the nor’easter expected to barrel across the coast.