Blizzard warnings issued for New Jersey, New York City, Connecticut as storm threatens East Coast

Blizzard warnings were issued Saturday for New York City, New Jersey and coastal communities along the East Coast as a late-winter storm set to arrive on Sunday threatened to make a mess of the start of a new week.

The National Weather Service increased its assessment of the potential severity of a storm that was projected to be less ferocious only days earlier.

The weather service said 1 to 2 feet (about 30 to 61 centimeters) of snow was possible in many areas as it issued blizzard warnings for New York City, Long Island, southern Connecticut and coastal communities in New Jersey and Delaware. Flooding was also possible in parts of New York and New Jersey, the weather service said.

The weather service said the storm could arrive quietly on Sunday with rainfall in some places before worsening, with the heaviest snowfall expected Sunday night and as much as 2 inches (5 centimeters) of snow an hour at times in some areas before tampering off by Monday afternoon.

The weather service warned that the storm, with steady winds of 25 to 35 mph (40 to 56 kph) would “make travel dangerous, if not impossible. Scattered downed tree limbs and power outages possible due to snow load and strong winds.”

The storm approached just as the icy remains of a snowstorm that struck the region weeks earlier were finally melting away.