LI Phil
02-13-2006, 09:20 AM
Snowstorm Sets Record For NYC
UPDATED: 8:00 pm EST February 12, 2006
NEW YORK -- A record storm blanketed the city in more than two feet of snow on Sunday, stranding tens of thousands of air travelers and sending sanitation workers into overdrive to try to get the streets passable by Monday.
By 4 p.m., the National Weather Service reported that 26.9 inches of snow had fallen in Central Park, the highest tally since records started being kept in 1869. The old record was 26.4 inches in December 1947.
The storm caught some New Yorkers by surprise, coming on the heels of an unusually mild January.
"It's sort of crazy because it was so warm a couple of weeks ago and now we have knee-deep snow," said Skye Drynan, walking her dogs Bella and Forest in lower Manhattan early Sunday.
With visibility at less than a quarter mile, Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged New Yorkers to stay off the roads.
"This is a dangerous storm," Bloomberg said. "Don't drive unless you have to."
The mayor, speaking at a salt storage facility on the Hudson River, said that with 2,200 snow plows and 350 salt spreaders working, he hoped to have all the city's 6,300 miles of streets cleared by Monday's rush hour.
Bloomberg said 2,500 Department of Sanitation employees were working in 12-hour shifts, with vacations and days off canceled, and temporary workers were being hired at $10 an hour to shovel snow.
The storm closed all three of the region's major airports for a time, and airlines canceled more than 500 inbound and departing flights -- at least 200 each at LaGuardia and Newark airports and 150 at Kennedy. By evening, Newark and Kennedy were reopen with limited service.
Service in and out of Pennsylvania Station on the Long Island Rail Road was canceled, and Metro North rail service was curtailed, but city subways and buses were running on close to normal schedules.
Many New Yorkers took the storm in stride.
"We were afraid we would fall on our heads before we stood on them," said Lynda Carpenter, who did not let the snow keep her away from yoga class at a neighborhood gym in Brooklyn.
Alan Cohen, a spokesman for the League of American Theaters and Producers, said Broadway shows would go on as scheduled.
At Chubby's Deli in suburban Eastchester, north of New York City, there were a few intrepid customers Sunday morning. "I love it. It's like Christmas," said John Eaton, who came in for newspapers and coffee and then planned to go home, make himself some oatmeal and hunker down.
Children were thrilled to dig out their sleds, little-used this winter until now.
"We're hoping for 365 days off from school," said 9-year-old Reagan Manz, 9, playing in Central Park with with friends. "We could go sledding the whole time and not get bored."
Jason Rosenfarb took a long walk with his daughter Haley, 5. "This is historical," he said. "We might not see anything like this again in our lifetime." Just then Haley jumped head first into the snow and said, "Help me out. There's too much snow."
UPDATED: 8:00 pm EST February 12, 2006
NEW YORK -- A record storm blanketed the city in more than two feet of snow on Sunday, stranding tens of thousands of air travelers and sending sanitation workers into overdrive to try to get the streets passable by Monday.
By 4 p.m., the National Weather Service reported that 26.9 inches of snow had fallen in Central Park, the highest tally since records started being kept in 1869. The old record was 26.4 inches in December 1947.
The storm caught some New Yorkers by surprise, coming on the heels of an unusually mild January.
"It's sort of crazy because it was so warm a couple of weeks ago and now we have knee-deep snow," said Skye Drynan, walking her dogs Bella and Forest in lower Manhattan early Sunday.
With visibility at less than a quarter mile, Mayor Michael Bloomberg urged New Yorkers to stay off the roads.
"This is a dangerous storm," Bloomberg said. "Don't drive unless you have to."
The mayor, speaking at a salt storage facility on the Hudson River, said that with 2,200 snow plows and 350 salt spreaders working, he hoped to have all the city's 6,300 miles of streets cleared by Monday's rush hour.
Bloomberg said 2,500 Department of Sanitation employees were working in 12-hour shifts, with vacations and days off canceled, and temporary workers were being hired at $10 an hour to shovel snow.
The storm closed all three of the region's major airports for a time, and airlines canceled more than 500 inbound and departing flights -- at least 200 each at LaGuardia and Newark airports and 150 at Kennedy. By evening, Newark and Kennedy were reopen with limited service.
Service in and out of Pennsylvania Station on the Long Island Rail Road was canceled, and Metro North rail service was curtailed, but city subways and buses were running on close to normal schedules.
Many New Yorkers took the storm in stride.
"We were afraid we would fall on our heads before we stood on them," said Lynda Carpenter, who did not let the snow keep her away from yoga class at a neighborhood gym in Brooklyn.
Alan Cohen, a spokesman for the League of American Theaters and Producers, said Broadway shows would go on as scheduled.
At Chubby's Deli in suburban Eastchester, north of New York City, there were a few intrepid customers Sunday morning. "I love it. It's like Christmas," said John Eaton, who came in for newspapers and coffee and then planned to go home, make himself some oatmeal and hunker down.
Children were thrilled to dig out their sleds, little-used this winter until now.
"We're hoping for 365 days off from school," said 9-year-old Reagan Manz, 9, playing in Central Park with with friends. "We could go sledding the whole time and not get bored."
Jason Rosenfarb took a long walk with his daughter Haley, 5. "This is historical," he said. "We might not see anything like this again in our lifetime." Just then Haley jumped head first into the snow and said, "Help me out. There's too much snow."