Mary Ann Bova walks along a slippery snow covered sidewalk during a winter storm in Buffalo, N.Y., Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. In some upstate areas, snow fell early Friday morning and was expected to increase throughout the day, with the heaviest accumulations expected in eastern New York on Friday night. (AP Photo/David Duprey) Firefighters load salt onto a container in the back of their truck at a Sanitation Department depot, Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 in New York. Kevin Quick plows a slushy mix in front of M & T Bank during a winter storm in Buffalo, N.Y., Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. Russell Hardison walks to the bus stop after shopping during a winter storm in Buffalo, N.Y., Friday, Feb. 8, 2013. BOSTON (AP) - A storm that forecasters warned could be a blizzard for the history books began battering the New York-to-Boston corridor Friday, grounding flights, closing workplaces and sending people rushing to get home ahead of a possible 1 to 3 feet of snow. From New Jersey to Maine, shoppers crowded into supermarkets and hardware stores to buy food, snow shovels, flashlights as well as generators - something that became a precious commodity after Superstorm Sandy in October. Others gassed up their cars, another lesson learned all too well after Sandy. Across much of New England, schools closed well ahead of the snow. Drivers were urged to stay off the streets lest their cars get stuck, preventing snowplows and emergency vehicles from getting through. New York City ran extra commuter trains in the afternoon to help people get home before the brunt of the storm hit. This is a storm of major proportions. Stay off the roads. Stay home," said Boston Mayor Thomas Menino. The storm mercifully arrived at the start of weekend, which meant fewer cars on the road and extra time for sanitation crews to clear the mess before commuters in the New York-to-Boston corridor of roughly 25 million people have to go back to work. But it could also mean a weekend cooped up indoors. Rainy Neves, a mother of two in Cambridge, Mass., did some last-minute shopping at a grocery store, filing her cart to the brim. "Honestly, a lot of junk - a lot of quick things you can make just in case lights go out, a lot of snacks to keep the kids busy while they'd be inside during the storm, things to sip with my friends, things for movies," she said. Just a whole bunch of things to keep us entertained. In heavily Catholic Boston, the Archdiocese urged parishioners to be prudent about attending Sunday Mass and reminded them that, under church law, the obligation "does not apply when there is grave difficulty in fulfilling this obligation." Halfway through what had been a mild winter across the Northeast, blizzard warnings were posted from parts of New Jersey to Maine. The National Weather Service said Boston could get close to 3 feet of snow by Saturday evening, while Connecticut was bracing for 2 feet and New York City was expecting as much as 14 inches. Early snowfall was blamed for a 19-car pileup in Cumberland, Maine, that caused minor injuries. The snow was expected to be at its heaviest Friday night and into Saturday. Forecasters said wind gusts up to 75 mph could cause widespread power outages and whip the snow into fearsome drifts. Flooding was expected along coastal areas still recovering from Superstorm Sandy. Meteorologist Jeff Masters of Weather Underground said the storm was actually a collision of two storms, and may end up among the Boston area's Top 5 most intense ever. "When you add two respectable storms together, you're going to get a knockout punch with this one," he said. It could break Boston's all-time snowstorm record of 27.6 inches, set in 2003, forecasters said. The storm also comes almost 35 years to the day after the Blizzard of '78, a ferocious storm that dropped 27 inches of snow, packed hurricane-force winds and claimed dozens of lives. Masters said the region could get a break from warmer air trailing behind that is expected to push temperature up to the 40s by Monday. "It's going to be not that difficult to dig out, compared to maybe some other nor'easters in the past, where it stayed cold after the storm went through," he said. Amtrak stopped running trains in cities around the Northeast on Friday afternoon. Airlines canceled more than 4,200 flights through Saturday, and New York City's three major airports and Boston's Logan Airport began shutting down in the afternoon. In Massachusetts, Gov. Deval Patrick enacted a statewide driving ban for the first time since the Blizzard of '78. Hours before the ban went into effect at 4 p.m., long lines formed at gas stations, some of which were almost out of fuel. James Stone said he was saving the remaining regular gas at his station in Abington, Mass., south of Boston, for snowplow drivers. "It hasn't snowed like this in two years," Stone said. Most people are caught way off-guard. In New York, Fashion Week - a series of designer showings, with some activities held under tents - went on mostly as scheduled, though organizers put on additional crews to deal with the snow and ice, turned up the heat and fortified the tents. The snow did require some wardrobe changes. Designer Michael Kors was forced to arrive at the Project Runway show on Friday in Uggs. For Joe DeMartino of Fairfield, Conn., being overprepared was impossible: His wife was expecting their first baby Sunday. He stocked up on gas and food, got firewood ready and was installing a baby seat in the car. The couple also packed for the hospital. They say that things should clear up by Sunday. We're hoping that they're right," he said. Said his wife, Michelle: "It adds an element of excitement." Associated Press writers Denise Lavoie in Whitman, N.H.; Rodrique Ngowi, in Watertown, Mass.; John Christoffersen in Fairfield, Conn., and Bob Salsberg in Boston contributed to this report.