Nemo Tracker, Mayor Michael Bloomberg encouraged New Yorkers to leave work early Friday as the northeast braces for a major winter storm that forecasters predict could dump six to 10 inches of snow in New York City overnight.

“Our biggest concern is making sure people get home from their day and that they don’t abandon their cars in the middle of the road,” Bloomberg said during a brief radio interview Friday morning.....blogs.wsj.

“But we don’t think the snow is going to come down hard enough where that should be a problem. And we have an awful lot of tow trucks ready and we’ve coordinated with all the different agencies that have plows and tow trucks to make sure every resource is available if we need it.”

Bloomberg is expected to deliver an update on the city’s storm preparations at the Office of Emergency Management in Brooklyn later in the day.

In 2010, Bloomberg was the target of intense criticism from New Yorkers andelected officials for his administration’s sluggish response to a post-Christmas blizzard that paralyzed the city for days. The mayor apologized and promised to do better in the future.
The mayor joked about how the weather forecasts for this storm have been, diplomatically speaking, wide-ranging. “You can have a forecast that says next to nothing or a foot and a half of snow,” Bloomberg said. “Take your pick!”

The city’s public schools are open Friday, but most after-school programs have been canceled, the mayor said. The mayor warned New Yorkers that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will start having service changes as the storm picks up.

Bloomberg said there’s always the possibility of minor flooding. “We’ve put some resources in the low-lying areas just in case,” he said. “But we really don’t think that that’s going to happen.”

The mayor said he hoped by mid-morning Saturday all city streets “will have been plowed once or twice.”

“It just depends on when the snow starts and when the snow ends,” he said.