HARTFORD- Governor Dannel P. Malloy announced Wednesday afternoon, January 3, that he will activate the state's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) beginning at 6 am on Thursday, January 4, in order to monitor storm conditions across the state and quickly coordinate any support that may be necessary.

"After assessing the situation with emergency management officials and key agency commissioners, we will activate the EOC beginning at 6 am tomorrow morning," Governor Malloy said. "We are continuing to monitor this storm very closely as a slight shift in track could change the forecasted snowfall totals and impacts across the state."

The current forecast is calling for snow to begin around 2 am, Thursday, near the southeast Connecticut coast and spread northwest into the Hartford area by 5 am. The snow is forecast to become moderate around 7 am, with increasing north winds that will gust at times to 50 miles per hour by noon.

During the afternoon, very heavy snow is expected at rates between 1 to 3 inches per hour with strong winds gusting at times between 50 to 60 miles per hour that will cause blowing and drifting of snow and reduce visibility to near zero. The snow is forecast to end from west to east beginning between 7 to 10 pm. Bitterly cold conditions are expected to remain throughout the night with lows between zero and 10 degrees and winds gusting between 30 and 40 miles per hour that will cause wind chills to drop to -20 degrees at times.

The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) has 634 state trucks and roughly 200 private contractors prepared to respond to the storm. Materials such as salt, liquid magnesium chloride, and spare parts are stockpiled at roughly 50 CTDOT satellite facilities throughout the state. The department also has 17 industrial/loader-mounted snow blowers that are capable of each moving 1,500 tons of snow per hour.