Albany

The unusually long-lasting snowstorm that's blown across the country is likely to leave the Capital Region with 8 to 10 inches of snow — a foot in higher elevations — along with subzero temperatures.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a statewide state of emergency Thursday as the storm battered much of the East Coast and was expected to linger for more than 30 hours before tapering off early Friday.

Thursday's overnight low of minus 4 degrees would feel with the wind chill like minus 22 degrees. Friday's temperature was forecast to soar to 7 degrees then plummet again at night to 12 below zero Saturday.

Starting at midnight, the Thruway from Exit 24 in Albany south to New York City, Interstate 84 and the Long Island Expressway were to close in a pre-emptive move to deal with blizzard conditions predicted and the impact of the winter storm.

"We can assess the conditions throughout the evening and throughout the night. But our current plan is at 5 a.m. (Friday) to re-open those roads — again, conditions allowing," Cuomo said. "People should not be on the road unless they definitely need to be."

Drivers caught on the closed sections of highway could face a misdemeanor.

Many Capital Region cities, towns and villages declared snow emergencies, curtailing on-street parking to allow their plows to move the snow.

Roads were slick. Among the myriad accidents, a car crashed and burst into flames, injuring the driver, in Bethlehem on River Road at Glenmont Road around 5:30 p.m.

Rensselaer County Executive Kathleen Jimino advised residents to take action to prevent hypothermia and frostbite.

Information about dealing with severely cold weather is available online at www.ready.gov/winter-weather.

Some school districts whose Christmas breaks were to end on Thursday stayed closed another day.

"It's a longer-duration storm than we're used to seeing," said Vasail Koleci, a NWS meteorologist in Albany.

As the storm pushed eastward from the Midwest on Wednesday and Thursday, it dropped as much as 18 inches on suburban Chicago and up to a foot on Michigan. Below-zero cold was expected across the region over the next few days.

"Anything below 25 degrees and the salt isn't nearly as effective," said Becky Allmeroth, a maintenance engineer with the state of Missouri, where crews were mixing chemicals and beet juice with salt to try to make roads passable.

Hundreds of flights in and out of Chicago's O'Hare Airport were canceled Wednesday. On Thursday, the airlines canceled more than 2,300 flights nationwide.

The heavy weather rolled into just a day after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio was sworn on New Year's Day.

De Blasio, who as public advocate in 2010 criticized predecessor Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his handling of a post-Christmas storm, said hundreds of plows and salt spreaders would be on the streets as soon as the snow started falling Thursday night.

"We have to get it right, no question about it," de Blasio said. "We are focused like a laser on protecting this city and getting everyone ready."

The storm produced light, fluffy flakes at an average of 15 inches of snow per inch of precipitation, which is 50 percent higher than the average ratio of 10 inches of snow to an inch of water, Koleci said.

The ice skating rink at the Empire State Plaza closed after the state Office of General Services said it could not keep up with clearing the rink of snow.

In Troy, Frank Von Fricken said he expected to shovel the walk in front of Romanation Jewelers on Third Street three times before the snowfall ends Friday, but he had no sense of dire straits.

"It's been fine. A little cold," he said. "It's January, you expect it."

kcrowe@timesunion.com • 518-454-5084 • @KennethCrowe. Staff writer Joran Carleo-Evangelist and the Associated Press contributed to this report..