1000+ Flights Canceled For Blizzard

This afternoon major airlines announced the cancellation of over 1000 flights in advance of the arrival of tomorrow's nor'easter.

Already, as of 2:45 p.m. ET on Thursday, more than 1,000 U.S. flights have been canceled for Friday, according to FlightAware. The bulk of that total comes at Northeast airports that are likely to see severe weather. Among those is Newark Liberty, which tops the list with more than 490 of its Friday flights already canceled. United Airlines, which operates a major hub at Newark, has axed 365 mainline flights Friday as well as dozens of others operated by its regional affiliates, as of 3 p.m. ET. "We expect all the majors to have announced a significant chunk by this evening," FlightAware's Duell adds.

United, American, JetBlue and Delta have waived flight change fees at dozens of the affected airports.  Boston Mayor Tom Mennino has ordered the closing of public schools for tomorrow.  The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard watch for Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Long Island. Amtrak has cancelled some trains from Boston to Maine and local news reports that changes that affect service to New York City might be announced later today.

Via New York Times:

By the time the storm has passed through the New York area, sometime on Saturday, forecasters predict it will have dumped as much as a foot of snow in the area, while delivering blistering winds reaching 50 m.p.h., and flooding coastal areas. If the current models hold, the storm could rival the blizzard of 1978 in New England, when more than 27 inches of snow fell in Boston and surrounding cities. That storm, which occurred on a weekday, resulted in dozens of deaths and crippled the region for days. Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, said more than 20 agencies had gathered at the agency’s operations center in Framingham, Mass., where they were preparing for a historic storm.

UPDATE: Boltbus has cancelled all service to Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston for tomorrow. Megabus has cancelled all service to Boston.

UPDATE II: The blizzard warning has been extended to include New York City.

The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning from 6 a.m. Friday to 1 p.m. Saturday, meaning major travel delays from the 35 mile-an-hour wind gusts, heavy snow and rain, said Joe Pollina, a weather service meteorologist. “The city could see anywhere from 10 to 12 inches of snow,” he said, with a dusting overnight Thursday changing to rain and snow Friday, and then back to heavy snow overnight and into Saturday. New Yorkers started stocking up on supplies and shovels ahead of the storm. “We’re selling out of everything. The most popular item is the trunk shovel that fits in your car,” said Katherine Wankel, whose family has owned an Upper East Side hardware store for 117 years. If everything falls the way it has the potential to it could be among the top 10 snowstorms in New England history, said meteorologist William Babcock.

UPDATE III: NYC government has issued an alert.

Bolt Blogging

KJMG, broadcasting live from the DC-bound BoltBus. If you embiggen this photo from last fall, you'll notice that boarding conveniently takes place outside of Peep World on 33rd Street. I've mentioned BoltBus here a few times before, but this is the first time I've actually used them. Chased here, I was, by my last seven-hour Amtrak-to-DC debacle. It's not too bad, as buses go. Brand-newish, leather seats, decent WiFi. I was a bit apprehensive after hearing about recent bad experiences from readers, but so far so good. All except for this far-as-you-can-see traffic jam on the Jersey turnpike.....

Raves For BoltBus

BoltBus, the new mega-cheap bus line operated by Greyhound that I mentioned here last month, earned a rave review from my friend Eddie last night. Eddie reports that for his $5 fare from Philly to NYC, he got a brand new bus with wi-fi service and power outlets at each seat. AND the driver even detoured from her route to drop him directly at his destination in the East Village. However, there were only two other passengers on the bus (hence the detour), so it remains to be seen whether BoltBus will survive to challenge the Chinese bus lines. I'll give BoltBus a whirl on my next trip to DC and give y'all a full report.