Snow
As much as 18 inches of snow could cover New York, Philadelphia and Washington later this week. It would be the first major snowstorm of 2016. Above, a car is buried under snow close to New York’s Duffy Square Jan. 8, 1996. Getty Images

Winter 2016 may have begun mildly, but more than a foot of snow could fall on the U.S. Northeast soon. Over 50 million people could be affected by a major snowstorm forecasted to strike this week, AccuWeather.com reported Monday. New York, Philadelphia and Washington will likely see the brunt of the storm.

It’s still unknown which areas of the Northeast will be most affected, but it’s probably going to be a difficult time for commuters and other travelers from Friday to Saturday. There will likely be a lot of traffic on highways, and airline flights could be either canceled or delayed because of the weather. “If you had travel plans for Friday or Saturday, I would certainly be concerned,” AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tom Kines told the New York Post Monday.

The coming storm has the potential to turn into a blizzard, which could cause airports to close down entirely, AccuWeather noted.

“If it reaches its full potential, it would be a bad storm,” Kines said. “I don’t know if there would be 18 inches out of it, but I guess it could certainly be a foot.”

Assuming heavy snow does falls later this week, it would be the first significant snowfall of the winter season in much of the Northeast.

Overall, it’s been a warm winter. Even though many people in the Northeast hoped for a white winter holiday season, air temperatures were in the high 50s, which put the kibosh on any chance of snow.

It’s a big change from last winter, when the Northeast was bombarded with foot upon foot of snow. In Boston, there was so much accumulation that the city’s snowplow operators were running out of places to put it all.

Check back for updates this week to see whether the Big Apple and the surrounding region will get pummeled with snow.

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