Nearly 1000 Flights Cancelled as Storm Blankets Northeast

System expected to blow over to Canada by Sunday evening

The Northeast is hunkering down in anticipation of a winter storm that will blanket an estimated 1,000 miles, leaving up to a foot of snow in parts of New England and at least 8 inches in areas north and west of New York City.

The National Weather Service called the cold front a 'complex storm system' that spans from Missouri to the northern tip of New York state. New England is bracing for 6 to 12 inches of snow, Maine is expecting up to 14 inches along the coast and Ohio is forecasted to have up to 6 inches over the weekend. In the Midwest, chilling temperatures and snow are hampering agricultural channels.

Forecasters are anticipating heavier snow Saturday along the East Coast, but the storm is expected to move into Canada and offshore by Sunday evening, NBC reports.

'This next system is really going to be a very significant storm for a lot of the country,' said Carl Parker, a meteorologist for The Weather Channel. 'It's going to grab up plenty of moisture off the Atlantic, throw it back and into the Northeast.'

Mourning Madiba: South Africans Say Goodbye to Nelson Mandela