New York City public schools will be closed Wednesday due to a coming nor'easter.
Mayor Bill de Blasio made the announcement in a news conference late Tuesday afternoon, saying most of the snow is expected to fall during school hours.
"We have estimates now of 12 to 15 inches of snow," de Blasio said. "Again, we have learned from previous storms, [accumulations] can go up, they can go down, they can come faster, they can show up later, we don't know for sure."
De Blasio paused as cheers erupted from in front of his podium, before he emphasized the safety concerns associated with the heavy accumulation.
"It could be such a big storm and because again it could hit during school hours, we want to be ahead of it."
The mayor then cautioned people from jumping to conclusions if they don't see any accumulation when they wake up in the morning. Forecasters predict the storm will leave upwards of a foot of snow on the city, most of which will fall in the afternoon hours.
"We want to exercise caution and be ready for anything," he added.
Unlike other recent snow storms which left most snowfall on areas west of New York City, forecasters say coastal areas like Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and northeastern New Jersey will get the most snow.
Points west will see less accumulation.
The snow will be heavy and wet, increasing the potential for power outages in an area in which hundreds of thousands of residents have lost power due to a string of severe storms.
The string of severe snow storms have caused extensive damage to the infrastructure of the utility companies, including broken utility poles and damage in hard-to-reach locations.
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