Bloomberg was harshly criticized for the city's slow response to the post-Christmas blizzard, when nearly two feet (61 centimeters) of snow fell in the area.

New York did not declare an emergency for the December 26-28 blizzard -- but this time Bloomberg is taking no chances.

The declaration, issued by the city's Office of Emergency Management, urges drivers to stay off the road and use public transportation wherever possible, and allows tow trucks to remove "at the owner's expense" any vehicle blocking a road or preventing snow plows from cleaning streets.

The weather emergency declaration however is not as sweeping as a "snow emergency," which allows only cars with chains or snow tires on major roads, and lets police ticket and tow cars parked on major streets.

The US National Weather Service said that two low pressure systems, one heading up the eastern US seaboard and another moving in from the Ohio and Tennessee valleys, are set to merge off the mid-Atlantic coast and rapidly intensify.

A wintry mix "is expected to become mainly snow, spreading northward into New England (late Tuesday) and becoming heavy in coastal areas from New Jersey northward," the Weather Service said on its 2100 GMT advisory.

A broad stretch of the northeastern United States, including the New York city metro area, is forecast to receive on Wednesday between eight and 16 inches (20 to 40 centimeters) of snow, the Weather Service said, "with the heaviest amounts expected over coastal southern New England."

Bloomberg said at an earlier press conference that the city could receive up to 14 inches (35.6 centimeters) of snow, and that the heaviest snowfall was forecast for early Wednesday.

"We recognize that we did not do the job that New Yorkers rightly expect of us in the last storm," Bloomberg told reporters. "We intend to make sure that does not happen again."

The heavy snow in the December storm forced the three major area airports -- John F. Kennedy International, LaGuardia and Newark International in New Jersey -- to close, forcing thousands of flights to be canceled and affecting air travel across the country.

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