Ocean City Braces For Up To A Foot Of Snow; Blizzard Warning In Effect

OCEAN CITY, Md. (WJZ) — Governor Larry Hogan has declared a state of emergency for all nine eastern shore counties ahead of this storm. Ocean City is under a blizzard watch right now.

WJZ’s Jessica Albert is on the boardwalk in Ocean City tonight, where residents are preparing for about a foot of snow.

Ocean City Emergency Management today asks residents to hunker down and stay inside until the storm passes.

A Blizzard Warning is in effect for Worcester, Somerset and Wicomico counties from 7 p.m. Friday to 7 p.m. Saturday. Those areas on the Eastern Shore could see between 8 to 12 inches of accumulation and wind gusts of up to 50 mph.

Winter Storm Thread: The next few tweets will sum up the hazards with tonight/tomorrow's winter storm. To start, these are the latest headlines and snow total forecast as of 4pm today. Blizzard conditions are expected for parts of the Eastern Shore tonight/tomorrow. (1/?) pic.twitter.com/QufINm0AEu

— NWS Wakefield (@NWSWakefieldVA) January 28, 2022

Emergency services director Joe Theobald says crews have been out treating the roads and will be out keeping them clear. Even though it’s the offseason, Theobald said that there are about 50,000 people there.

He wants them to stay off the road tonight.

“Be prepared,” he said, “The roads won’t be passable right away.”

Many events this evening and tomorrow morning in Ocean City have been canceled. The city’s bus service has also been suspended.

Due to the anticipated blizzard conditions, the Ocean City bus service will be suspended on Saturday, January 29, 2022. The bus service is scheduled to resume at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 30th, weather permitting. #oceancity #ocmd #oceancitymd pic.twitter.com/LzHgcJiYuM

— Town of Ocean City (@TownofOceanCity) January 28, 2022

WJZ will be there throughout the night into tomorrow checking on conditions for you. Stay with us on-air and online for updates from the WJZ First Alert meteorologists.