A blizzard that forecasters predicted would dump up to two feet of snow onto the north-east United States prompted five governors to declare states of emergency on Friday.

Airlines cancelled flights, public transit systems were shut down and people were urged to stay indoors in the face of heavy snow and winds of up to 40mph. Forecasters predicted gusts of up to 60mph later in the evening.

About 10,000 customers along the east coast were left without power, and about 3,500 flights were cancelled on Friday and hundreds more on Saturday.

Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick announced a ban on most car travel starting at 4pm Friday afternoon, while in Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy closed the state's highways to all but emergency vehicles.

Blizzard warnings were in place from New Jersey to southern Maine, including for New York City and Boston. Commuters were repeatedly warned not to travel on Friday evening or Saturday, with the National Weather Service warning that visibility could be "near zero in white-out conditions".

In New York, the mayor, Michael Bloomberg urged people to stay in doors and read "a good book". Governors declared states of emergency, which allowed them to suspend certain regulations and release funding, in New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

The National Weather Service said Boston could receive three feet of snow, which would rank as the city's largest ever snowfall. The previous high of 27.6 inches was recorded in 2003. Cities from Hartford, Connecticut, to Portland, Maine, were expected to see at least one foot of snow, the NWS said, while New York City was predicted to see 12.1 inches.

The blizzard designation assigned to much of the region refers to the risk of a snow storm lasting three hours or more with sustained gusts or frequent gusts of 35mph or greater, Accuweather reported. "On top of the wind requirements, there must also be considerable falling OR blowing snow, reducing the visibility to less than a quarter of a mile frequently."

Most airlines had cancelled flights in and out of New York City and Boston as well as smaller airports in the region ahead of the storm. Flight tracking website Flight Aware said over 3,100 flights were cancelled on Friday and a further 1,000 were cancelled on Saturday. Passengers were advised to check with their airline before travelling to the airport.

In Boston, the public transit system was shut down completely at 3.30pm and by the early evening, the streets in the downtown areas were almost completely abandoned.

Snow plows and salt spreading trucks were being readied across the region, with New Jersey governor Chris Christie alerting his Twitter followers that more than 2,000 vehicles were at the ready in the state.

In New York City 1,800 sanitation trucks had been readied to deal with snow and ice. The trucks had 250,000 tons of salt at their disposal. In Boston all city buildings were closed at noon and only due to reopen on Monday.

In a news release the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was monitoring the storm and would hold "regular operational briefings" with state agencies in impacted areas through Friday and Saturday.

Wireless emergency alerts were being sent out to cell phones on Friday morning and would continue to be dispatched during the storm, Fema said. Those on participating networks will receive the alerts as text messages or on-screen pop-ups.

"These alerts are sent by public safety officials such as the National Weather Service and are designed to get your attention and provide brief, critical instructions to warn about imminent threats like severe weather."

The Weather Channel christened the snowstorm Nemo on Thursday, although the term was not an official designation, and was not being universally used. The decision was criticised by the National Weather Service, which told its forecasters not to use the name. The moniker was the subject of some backlash on social networks on Friday after Weather Channel meteorologist Bryan Norcross admitted that the thinking behind "Nemo" was that "Twitter needs a hashtag".