(CNN) -- Air traffic in and out of all three of New York's major airports halted Sunday night, as that region and other parts of the East Coast braved blizzard-like conditions.
Incoming and departing flights were suspended at New York's John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, as well as Newark Liberty International Airport in neighboring north New Jersey, Port Authority spokeswoman Sara Joren said.
Those airports are still considered "open" and "active," with some passengers stranded overnight due to hundreds of flight cancellations, but air traffic won't resume until Monday.
That meant those airports, like many others throughout the Northeast -- which, normally, would be crowded and flush with activity after Christmas -- had gone largely quiet by early Sunday evening. Many would-be travelers stayed away, thanks in part to many airlines' pre-emptive cancellations.
To that end, American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Sanderson said shortly after 8 p.m. Sunday that the carrier would cancel another 171 flights Monday in and out of major airports from Washington through Boston. This is on top of more than 262 flights that the airline canceled Sunday.
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Gallery: iReporters shoot winter weather The steady and, at times, heavy snow falling from Virginia up the East Coast on Sunday evening also affected travel on the roads and the rails. Massachusetts state police reported numerous crashes, for example, while Amtrak stopped service as of late Sunday afternoon between New York and Portland, Maine, as well as between Newport News and Richmond, Virginia.
Governors on Sunday declared states of emergency in Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts ahead of the approaching storm, a bid to get crews ready and expedite recovery funding depending on its impact.
The mayors of Philadelphia, Boston, Providence and Portland, Maine, also called snow emergencies, while New York City launched a winter snow storm operation and encouraged people to stay off the roads by taking mass transit or staying put.
"Unfortunately, our city is directly in the path," New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday afternoon, amid a blizzard warning that extends until 6 p.m. Monday. "It's hard to stand up in a 55-mph wind, so this really is dangerous."
The storm's timing, coming over a holiday weekend, was fortuitous for some and disastrous for others. City and state officials predicted that the blizzard's impact on the economy and otherwise might be muted, because many people had the holiday weekend off and fewer were expected to be commuting into work than normal on Monday.
"With the people who are staying home for the holidays, it's great, but we know a lot of people who are trying to get home," said Brett Martin, claiming his hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia, had received almost a foot of snow. "We're just playing games and hanging out by the fire."
Snow began falling in parts of the South on Christmas, where winter weather advisories expired Sunday evening in parts of Alabama, Tennessee and the Carolinas.
All along, though, the storm system was expected to have a larger impact Sunday night and into Monday further north up the East Coast.
Along with the advisory for suburban New York City, blizzard warnings are in effect for Virginia and Maryland's Eastern Shore through 5 a.m. Monday, with the National Weather Service predicting the heaviest bands of snow hitting around 10 p.m. and eventually piling up between 10 and 15 inches. The New Jersey shore's warning runs through 1 p.m. Monday.
"It does appear like the worst weather will be in the vicinity of the New York City area northeastward into the Boston area," said National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Oravec. "We do expect the winds to pick up."
Metropolitan New York could see between 15 and 20 inches of accumulating snow, with sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph and sporadically stronger gusts especially along Long Island, the weather agency predicts.
The Connecticut coast, Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts, coastal New Hampshire and Maine also have a blizzard warning in effect through Monday evening, with expected snowfall of 12 to 16 inches and wind gusts reaching 60 mph.
Meanwhile, the NFL announced that a game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Philadelphia Eagles -- originally scheduled for Sunday night -- had been postponed until 8:20 p.m. Tuesday.
"It was dangerous for the players, dangerous for the fans," said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who called a state of emergency in anticipation of up to 14 inches of snow. "People still have to get out of the parking lot (and get in) their cars."
Nancy White, a AAA spokesman, said that 93 million Americans were expected to travel between Christmas and New Year's -- with nine out of 10 of them doing so by car.
"Hopefully, people will have a little bit of luxury and can take some time to stay grounded and stay safe tonight," she said.
While the worst wasn't expected for another 10 or so hours, the Massachusetts State Police reported around 7:30 p.m. Sunday that heavy snow was already falling, including whiteout conditions already in some locales. That contributed to traffic moving at a crawl in and around Greater Boston, with state troopers reporting minor crashes and spinouts.
The state's governor, Deval Patrick, told reporters earlier in the day that 1,000 plows, sand and salt trucks were working to keep state roads clear and that as many as 4,000 would be deployed as the storm worsens. He also warned of possible overnight flooding along Massachusetts Bay, with the danger peaking when high tide hits around 3:30 a.m. Monday.
"We expect visibility to be very low and travel to be extremely dangerous," Patrick said.
The system has already put a wrench in the travel plans for thousands of air passengers trying to get home after the holiday week, with more cancellations expected.
As of Sunday afternoon, as many as 1,000 flights had been canceled at New York's LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy International Airport and New Jersey's Newark International Airport, according to Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman.
Coleman said that there was "very, very limited flight traffic" as of 4 p.m. at John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, as airlines decided to cancel flights and get their planes out of the region ahead of the storm. That's left airports that otherwise would have been packed with people relatively quiet.
"For the most part, people have heeded the warnings ... and they've stayed put," he said. "Hopefully, they'll ride it out."
In addition to the American announcement, Delta Air Lines canceled 850 flights as of Sunday morning from the Carolinas through the northeast, roughly one-sixth of the typical 5,000 flight total for the day.
As of late Sunday morning, Continental Airlines, which is partnered with United Airlines, had canceled about 265 domestic mainline and regional departures for Sunday, spokesman Andrew J. Ferraro said.
"There's nothing you can do," said Michelle Forsyth, an assembly line worker for Lockheed-Martin, whose flight from New York to Dallas was canceled. "Be patient and let the weather do what it's going to do."
Those carriers, as well as AirTran Airways, are among the carriers waiving penalties for travelers who have to reschedule their trips over the weekend.
While specific information varies by carrier, most are offering penalty waivers for passengers traveling on December 26 and 27 at airports from North Carolina to Boston and beyond. Affected customers are being urged to contact the relevant airline either by phone or online.
CNN's Allan Chernoff, Greg Botelho, Nick Valencia, Chuck Johnston, Nina Golgowski and Susan Candiotti contributed to this report.
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