(MCT) — NEW YORK — Parts of the Northeast were bracing Thursday for as much as two feet of snow combined with fierce winds of up to 75 mph as a major blizzard was expected to bring misery to the region.

Officials stockpiled ice-fighting supplies and put additional crews on alert across the region, stretching from Pennsylvania through New Jersey and metropolitan New York, then up through Maine. The National Weather Service posted winter weather advisories across the area and a blizzard warning for the coast.