The snowstorm hitting the US Northeast started out small – at least in New York City – but it's getting bigger.

Forecasters expect winter storm Quinn to intensify on Wednesday before moving through New England. Snow was falling at the rate of 1 to 3 inches per hour, and predictions of snow fall ranged from several inches in New York City to more than 20 in parts of New Jersey, upstate New York and western Connecticut. Moderate flooding threatened low-lying coastal areas.

At least 60 million people are in the storm's path. Airlines canceled more than 3,000 flights for Wednesday and Thursday, according to FlightAware, an aviation software and data services company.

The storm is the second one to hit the Northeast just days after last week's nor'easter in which eight people died, millions lost power and thousands of flights were canceled.

The governors of New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts declared a state of emergency. In New York City, public schools remained open, while some schools in New Jersey were closed and others had delayed openings.

New York City's five boroughs were forecast to get between 7 to 11 inches of snow.

In Manhattan, snow mixed with rain started falling Wednesday morning and turned to all-snow by late afternoon with strong winds. Moderate temperatures kept the snow from accumulating, but the forecast was for several inches of snow as temperatures dipped to freezing and below.

The rain and melting snow turned Times Square and surrounding streets into puddles and slush.

Daniella Choy, 33, visiting New York City from Miami said, "We thought it was going to be worse than the news made it seem."

But Kentaro Machida, 15, a student at Mather High School in Manhattan, said,

"I didn't really expect the storm to be worse, since it's March."