Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on Spectrum to update New Yorkers on winter weather.

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Camille DeLongis, Spectrum:  For the second time in less than a week, New York State is bracing for even more extreme weather. This round coming just days after Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for about three dozen counties buried under snow. The Governor calling into the studio this evening to discuss this latest round of weather kicking off the week.

Governor Hochul, thanks so much for joining us.

Governor Hochul: Thank you. And so here we come from one holiday to the next. I think it's going to be really brutal travel this week when people are still visiting their families, or returning home from Christmas or traveling for New Year's, so we just wanted to - as you're doing such a great job keeping everyone aware of the conditions - just to let New Yorkers know what the state is doing to prepare as well.

Camille DeLongis, Spectrum: Tell us what your concerns for this extreme weather, once again moving in across the state, are. It seems like with this round, the ice will be something to keep an eye on, at least in the Capital and Hudson Valley regions, right?

Governor Hochul: That's what we're very concerned about is the icy roads, and then you start getting blowing conditions. And so, it's a recipe for disaster and we're asking vehicles to be very conscious of the snow plows on the road - visibility may not be great.

So part of the state, starting today, it's going to be a major ice event. We are expecting upward of one-tenth of an inch to even half an inch, which is quite a bit of ice. But then changing in the next couple days is more snow coming on top of that.

And this is where it really shifts to a higher volume event in Western New York. And we're in for a long duration lake-effect snow event from Lake Erie and Ontario, which, as you know, takes you from the Southern Tier all the way up to the Tug Hill Plateau in Watertown. And, not that those areas aren't able to handle the weather, but we're concerned about the Thruways and the state roads in those areas, which is why we have already declared that there can be no tandem trucks, no empty trailers, because they're at higher risk of going over.

And tomorrow, starting at 6 a.m., the (Buffalo) Skyway will be closed, and that's a pre-emptive measure because we're expecting really high winds, which, as a former commuter from Hamburg to downtown, I know that road can be treacherous when you don't have visibility and you're so high off the ground.

Camille DeLongis, Spectrum: Always best to just stay home if you don't have anywhere that you need to be. Now, state crews just finished helping communities clean out from the snow. How are they preparing for this new blast of weather?

Governor Hochul: They are everywhere, and I'm so proud of our Thruway crews, and our State crews, our State DOT crews and all the other supplemental agencies that step up, but they don't go home during this. They've been so involved in - we're pre-positioning more crews to go to Western New York now. And what's also important when you have an ice event and it could bring down power lines - we have almost 7,000 utility workers across the state ready to get that power back on, as we know how dangerous that can be, how frightening it can be if you don't have your lights on and your heat on. And so, we're trying to, hopefully, keep that to a minimum.

So that's what we're in store for. And it's only Sunday and this is going to go through much of the week. So it will not be one that's fun, especially with the kids home from school. Stay home, and play board games and bake more cookies.

Camille DeLongis, Spectrum: You brought up power outages. We know those can be a concern, particularly with the ice, and we know crews are going to be working as fast as possible to address those if we do lose power. How do you advise folks at home to prepare just in case they need to be ready for anything?

Governor Hochul: Always have - if you can have your phone's already charged, so you don't need to have the power to charge your cell phones. If you can have flashlights, lots of batteries, and just extra blankets. I'm more experienced in this than most governors because I recall a five day period when my children were quite young, when we were literally out of power in Hamburg and the house was freezing. We were sleeping in sleeping bags in our living room, and we used flashlights at night, and it was a difficult, difficult time. So I don't want to wish that on anybody, especially someone with little children or a senior citizen who's by themselves. So check on your neighbors, everybody, and step over and see if you can plow the ice off of the sidewalk for your older senior citizen neighbors.

But also yeah, if you can just stay in the house and figure out ways to stay warm, that's the most important. Being on the roads in those conditions is more dangerous than being at home.

Camille DeLongis, Spectrum: Yeah, maybe with all of this holiday travel season that we're still well underway in between the Christmas and New Year's holidays, if you don't have anywhere to go, just stay home.

And maybe would you recommend delaying that holiday travel a few days until this weather system moves out? Should folks stay where they are instead of trying to brave these roads to get back home right now?

Governor Hochul: Absolutely watch your conditions. If you're in an area that's calling for heavy ice, that is just a terrible time to be on the road. We need our salters out there. We need our plows to be able to get through. And just imagine the peril of sliding into a ravine or into a ditch. And if the snow starts coming and people don't see you, this is where we've had loss of life in past storms. People literally get stranded.

So if you must travel, you have to make sure that your vehicle is equipped. Again, cell phone chargers, blankets, water, flashlights with extra batteries are what's really important. And just prepare for the worst case scenario. And it's not likely to happen, but if it does, then you'll then as prepared as you possibly can be. And that's all we ask for.

And that's why I wanted to put out there and say: New Yorkers, we're not strangers to bad winter snowstorms, and lake-effects snows and ice storms, but if it affects your family, or your power goes out or you're in a ditch, that's everything. And so we just wanted to do whatever we can do.

My number one job is to keep New Yorkers safe, and so that's part of the reason I wanted to get this message out tonight.

Camille DeLongis, Spectrum: We appreciate you joining us to spread the word. We've been speaking with the Governor, Kathy Hochul. Governor, thank you for the time.

Governor Hochul: Alright, thank you. Bye-bye.

Contact the Governor's Press Office