Winter Storm Stella pounds East Coast: Blizzard dumps snow on Mid-Atlantic and Northeast

A powerful nor’easter pounded the Mid-Atlantic states and the Northeast early Tuesday, prompting flight cancellations, school closures and warnings from city and state officials to stay off the roads.

The National Weather Service issued blizzard warnings for parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont.

The storm was expected to dump 12 to 18 inches of snow on the New York City metro area with wind gusts of up to 55 mph.

The weather service’s office near Philadelphia called the storm “life-threatening” and warned people to “shelter in place.” Coastal flood warnings were in effect from Massachusetts to Delaware. (AP)

See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Tumblr