A powerful winter storm is expected to bury the Big Apple with up to a foot of snow this weekend — creating dangerous driving conditions and potentially halting bus, train and subway lines, state officials warned Friday.

Eastern Long Island will likely be hit with the worst of the blizzard,  with up to 1.5 feet  falling at a rate of 1 to 2 inches per hour on Friday night into Saturday morning, Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a press conference.

“Here’s what I’m asking New Yorkers: Just stay off the roads,”  she warned while declaring a state of emergency beginning at 8 p.m. Friday. “The best way to handle this is to stay home.”

The MTA is preparing to suspend Long Island Rail Road service early Saturday, and some bus routes and outdoor sections of New York City subway lines “could take a hit,” said MTA Chair Janno Lieber.

“We’re prepared to suspend or reduce services,” he said — adding straphangers should check the agency’s website and app for real-time updates over the weekend.

Steady snow in the Big Apple will start falling sometime after 9 p.m. Friday and intensify early Saturday, likely remaining heavy before tapering off in the afternoon, forecasters said.

All told, the city is expected to get 8 to 12 inches with temperatures plunging into the low 20s on Saturday. Strong winds of up to 35 mph with gusts in excess of 55 mph will also cause snowdrifts and white-outs throughout the region, forecasters said.  

In New York CIty, outdoor dining will be closed on Saturday, along with Citi Bike stations and all city-run COVID-19 vaccination and testing sites, officials said.

Mayor Eric Adams urged  New Yorkers to take public transit when possible and to call 311 with heating and frozen pipe problems.

“The name of the game is bundle up and let’s get prepared,” Adams said at a press conference Friday. “We can expect up to 1 foot of snow but you know Mother Nature has a tendency to do what she wants.”

He added, “Visibility is going to be  challenging tomorrow particularly because of the light [textured] snow, so we are asking people to use public transportation … The heavy snow can result in widespread travel issues.” 

Winter storm warnings were in effect for New York City and southeastern New York, as well as in Long Island, much of New Jersey and southeastern Pennsylvania ahead of the powerful nor’easter, AccuWeather forecasters said.

“Travel is going to be extremely difficult,” AccuWeather meteorologist Mike Doll told The Post. “This is a situation where the snow is going to be piling up, especially across central and eastern Long Island and into New England.”

New York plans to deploy more than 1,800 snowplows along with 5,500 utility workers to address possible power-outages, officials said. 

State parks will also be closed and speed limit restrictions of 35 mph  will be implemented in hard-hit areas.

Meanwhile, Boston and the rest of New England, meanwhile, is believed to be in line to get the brunt of the storm — and could see more than 3 feet before the storm leaves the area.

Boston could get up to 2 feet, while 42 inches of snow is not out of the question in other major cities along the East Coast, including Providence, Rhode Island; Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and Portland, Maine. Travel in those areas will be especially challenging, Doll said.

“I don’t think we can overstate this enough: There’s potential for very heavy snowfall rates and the fact is, there’s a danger if people are out on the roads across the region tomorrow,” Doll said. “They could get stuck.”

If the nor’easter tracks as little as 50 miles farther west than current projections, expected snow totals in cities like New York, Philadelphia and Ocean City, Maryland — where 3 to 6 inches is already expected — could double, AccuWeather said in its latest forecast.

But if the opposite occurs and the storm tracks 50 miles farther to the east, AccuWeather predicts snowfall in these areas could be halved instead.

“We’re still poring over data, it’s still a bit of a fluid situation,” Doll said early Friday. “It’s possible we might start talking about a solid foot in New York, but right now we’re expecting 8 to 12 inches.”

In northwestern New Jersey, just several inches could fall, although the bulk of the state is expected to see 4 to 8 inches. The state’s coastline, however, could get rocked with up to 18 inches, Doll said.Some parts of eastern Connecticut, where blizzard conditions are also expected, could get as much as 3 feet of snow.

After leaving the tri-state region early Saturday evening, the intense nor’easter will leave frigid temps and strong winds throughout New York and surrounding suburbs in its wake — with a high temp of just 22 degrees.

Forecasters predict it’ll be slightly warmer Sunday, with a high of 28.

Along with working with city department heads to solve storm-related problems, Mayor Adams said he plans to personally help shovel snow on his block because the Big Apple’s favorite newspaper will hold him accountable.

“I have to. If I don’t, The New York Post will be outside my house making sure they take a picture of snow that I didn’t shovel. So I’m going to be there bright and early to shovel snow,” he said.

Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan