TORONTO — Airlines including Air Canada and WestJet have updated their travel alerts as a fourth spring nor’easter targets Atlantic Canada and the U.S. Northeast, with strong winds and a foot or more of snow expected in some parts of the region.

Air Canada’s list of cities potentially impacted by the storm, with no penalties for passengers looking to make alternate flight arrangements, includes New York (LGA and EWR), Washington (BWI, DCA and IAD) and Boston and Philadelphia as well as Halifax, Saint John, St. John’s, Moncton, Gander, Charlottetown, Deer Lake, Bathurst, Gaspé and Fredericton.

WestJet has posted winter storm advisories for both Canada’s east coast as well as the New York / Boston region, with flexible change and cancel rules over the next couple of days.

The flight-tracking site FlightAware reported more than 3,000 cancelled flights across the U.S. on Wednesday, most in the Northeast.

Forecasters expect the storm to kick into high gear by early Wednesday afternoon.

Residents were being urged to stay home and off the roads, if possible, on Wednesday, so crews could work to keep streets clear.

Landscaping crews along the New Jersey coast tended to shrubs and plants at oceanfront homes, and then packed up their garden tools to get ready to plow. Shore towns positioned bulldozers, front-end loaders and other heavy equipment to deal with beach erosion.

The bulk of the snow and sleet was expected to pound New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and parts of eastern Pennsylvania on Wednesday before heading toward Cape Cod early Thursday.

Widespread power outages were possible with gusts blowing up to 56 kph.

On the ground, Amtrak scaled back service on the Northeast corridor and some states banned certain types of trucks from major highways.