U.S. East Coast braces for 'historic' blizzard on Monday

(Reuters) - A swath of the U.S. East Coast from Philadelphia to New York City to Maine was bracing for a potentially historic blizzard on Monday that is expected to dump as much as 2 feet (60 cm) of snow and snarl transportation for tens of millions of people.

The National Weather Service on Sunday issued a blizzard warning for the northern section of the East Coast from Monday afternoon until Tuesday and placed states from New Jersey to Indiana under winter storm watches and advisories.

"This literally could be one of the top two or three largest storms in the history of this city and we need to plan accordingly," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio told a news conference.

De Blasio told New Yorkers to stay off the roads and to "prepare for something worse than we have seen before."

The Philadelphia Streets Department said on its Facebook page that crews were preparing for a "messy Monday morning commute," while the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation told travelers to postpone travel if necessary.

American Airlines has canceled a handful of flights, including a Monday flight from New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport to London's Heathrow airport and one scheduled to depart on Monday from Heathrow to New York, spokesman Matt Miller said.

Southwest, Delta and other carriers had not canceled flights but were bracing for problems on Monday.

"It's safe to say there will be cancellations," Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant said, adding they would likely come on Monday and Tuesday.

The weather service expects as much as 8 inches (20 cm) of snow for western Maryland and southern Pennsylvania, while parts of New Jersey through eastern Massachusetts may get 6 to 12 inches (15-30 cm) of snow by Tuesday morning.

"It'll come in as a light snow, light rain mixture as early as early evening and then gradually change over to snow, but the heaviest will be later tonight and throughout Monday morning," NWS meteorologist Kevin Witt said on Sunday.

The storm is expected to snarl rush-hour traffic and delay flights, Witt added.

"It's going to greatly reduce the traffic speed and maybe cause some roads to be at a standstill. ... Those who need to go to work or need to go out should expect double time," Witt said.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Additional reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Jon Herskovitz, Gareth Jones, Jeffrey Benkoe and Peter Cooney)

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