The City of Binghamton and Village of Johnson City are encouraging people to just keep their cars off the streets for the weekend.

woman cleaning window of car from the snow with scraper
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The Village is opening all municipal and village parks parking lots for free parking from January 19 through January 22 including overnight parking without a permit.  Binghamton encourages people to park in driveways, parks and in the pay to park city lots and parking garages.

Alternate side of the street parking rules are in effect for both municipalities and will be enforced, according to authorities.

Johnson City Police say if a street is posted as a Snow Emergency Route, on-street parking is banned after 2 inches of snow and until plowing operations are over. “Red-Line Streets” are also Snow Emergency Routes.

Kathy Whyte/ WNBF News
Kathy Whyte/ WNBF News
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Remember, it is illegal to blow or shovel snow onto the streets, even if plows have had to leave a pile of snow at the bottom of your driveway.  You could be fined.

When you venture out after the storm, remember, you must clear the snow from the top of vehicles and make sure windows are clear.  Your vehicle lights and complete license plate must be visible.

Give snow plows plenty of room while they are doing their job.

The American Red Cross is offering advice for people who are battling bitterly cold temperatures coming with the latest blast of winter weather.

The group says home heating is the second leading cause of fires in the country.
People should make sure there is plenty of space around any kind of heater, fireplace or stove and that means keeping children and pets away as well as making sure anything that can burn from papers to rugs is at least three feet away from the heat.  Never leave a space heater or fire unattended.  Never use a cooking range to heat your home and make sure power cords are plugged directly into outlets.

Kathy Whyte/ WNBF News
Kathy Whyte/ WNBF News
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Some schools and sporting events are moving up their schedules in anticipation of the big storm that is to hit the region January 19.
Several basketball game times have been changed and campuses like Binghamton University and Corning Community College have rescheduled the student move-in plans for the weekend.

At B.U., students were supposed to move back onto campus January 20 in the afternoon. That’s been moved up to 8 a.m. January 19.
Many students are being encouraged to come back from their break early while others may opt to wait until Monday when many classes begin later in the day.

Many public schools will be closed Monday for Doctor Martin Luther King Junior Day but some schools did not have the day scheduled off.  Tune to WNBF Monday morning for the complete list of school announcements should any of those with classes scheduled be forced to modify their plans.

Some area churches also announced they were going to call off their Sunday services due to the weather.

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