A bona fide blizzard blustered up the East Coast on Sunday, bringing huge blasts of snow, stranding holiday travelers and keeping customers out of stores for post-holiday sales. Winds were gusting up to 55 miles per hour and the snow piled two feet deep in spots in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, with snowfalls of 16 to 20 inches predicted for those states by Monday afternoon, when the storm, which began Sunday morning, was expected to ease up, the New York Times reports. Blizzard warnings were in effect from North and South Carolina up through New England. States of emergency were declared in North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey; New York, Philadelphia and Boston declared snow emergencies. Airplane, railroad and highway travel were disrupted at the height of the post-Christmas rush. "Better to have people stay safe where they are, despite the inconvenience," Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole told the Times.