A Snowy Presidents Day

Presdients Day morning snow
in Ridgewood, Queens, NYC

A few days after most of the “Day after Christmas Storm” and snow falls following had melted, thanks to a recent high in Central Park of 67, New Yorkers awoke to yet another snow this Presidents Day morning. As I walked Myrrhlyn around the block around 7:30 am, there were sidewalks that were hardly any snow had accumulated and sidewalks where an inch or more had already piled up and made walking treacherous. Up to two inches, or more, had already accumulated on tops of cars and anything else elevated above the warm ground, like the tables and plastic chairs in our back yard.

Here is the NY1 Weather Update posted on twitter about 6:00 AM this morning, just an hour and half before our morning walk.

“Snow ends around noon time. 2 to 4" expected. High: 38. Tonight:Snow showers/22.Tue: Windy/Partly cloudy.31. Wed: Dry/40”

While NY1 predicted 2-4 inches, other forecasters have predicted 3-5 inches, with perhaps more accumulations to the north and west of the City. Eventually, the snow, which is still falling at 8:30 am, is to change over to a wintery mix by later this afternoon.

Could Punutawney Phil have been wrong? Maybe Spring was just not as near as we expected, and hoped.

Another New York City Snow

Snow covered street in the Queens
neighborhood of Ridgewood

A week ago, the weather prognosticators were predicting what could be a major winter storm for the Northeast, but they were not predicting any snowfall totals. A few days ago, the forecasters started talking about 3-6 inches. A little later, the predicted snowfall increased to 4-8 inches, then 8-10 inches, and finally up to a foot.

It was supposed to start snowing in New York City yesterday around 10:00 AM. By 9:45 AM there was already an inch on the ground. The predicted change from snow to rain never occurred. There was a little sleet, and very wet, heavy snow, but no rain. By late evening, there was already several inches of snow on the ground with more and heavier snow expected overnight. It was snowing so heavily in the late evening that by the time I finished clearing the small sidewalk in front of our house, another half an inch had already accumulated on what I had already cleared.

As I walked our dog last evening, the wet, wind driven snow stung my face at times. There were places were the sidewalk was almost bare and other places where the snow had drifted to over a foot deep or more. Snow and ice was clinging to the windows and screens of the house, having been blown there by the wind.

When I woke up this morning, it had finally stopped snowing and blowing. Nineteen inches of new snow reportedly fell in Central Park. The MTA curtailed bus service. The City closed the schools. Parking Meter and Alternate Side Parking were both suspended. When I walked our dog this morning, I walked him three quarters of the way around the block by walking down the middle of the streets, as no traffic was moving on the side streets that had yet been plowed.

New Yorkers are now digging out, piling snow even higher on the snow mounds left over from the storm the day after Christmas. The sun has come out this afternoon and the temperature is now above freezing, melting the thin layers of ice, snow and slush left behind by plows and shovels. Parking, however, is still a bit of a problem. Some cars have been plowed in and their owners are just now starting to dig them out.

Later in the morning, I measured the snow depth on our back porch at 14 inches. Some of that was old snow left over from the day after Christmas storm, however. With the new snow being so wet and heavy, it probably compacted as it fell and had already settled some by the time I measured it.

Before and After the 6 ½ Inches



The forecast was calling for 23 hour storm that could dump 7-14 inches of snow on New York City. Here is the statement issued by the national Weather Service.

 The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning for New York City from 7:00 PM Tuesday until 6:00 PM Wednesday. The current forecast calls for 7-14 inches of snow accompanied by strong wind gusts. The heaviest snow is forecast for after midnight Tuesday night into Wednesday. With visibility expected to be less than 1/4 mile at times, caution should be exercised when traveling.

Before the 6 1/2 inches

After the 6 1/2 inches

Like clockwork, snow started falling in my neighborhood around 7:00 PM. It snowed all evening and was snowing when I turned in for the night, around 11:00 PM. When I walked the dog a little before 11:00, there were already four or five inches of powder on the ground, and it was predicted to snall all night.

When I woke up this morning, it was no longer snowing. By mid morning, the Winter Storm Warning had been lifted and a bright sun in a clear blue sky was already starting to melt the snow from where it had mostly been cleared. 8.1 inches of snowfall was recorded in Central Park. In my backyard in Ridgewood, NY, a few miles to the east, I measured 6.5 inches.

The snowfall we experienced was on the low end of the prediction because the storm moved through the area faster than expected. Now Boston and other parts of New England are getting dumped on, with Boston expecting up to 30 inches!

Between the city plows and the bright sun in the sky, the roads and sidewalks are clearing and life is getting back to normal. For a few hours, however, winter had us in its grips and New Yorkers were hunkering down. Now we are out and about.

The photos above are before and after shots of a nearby street. Some snow remaining from the storm the day after Christmas storm can be seen in the before photo to the left.

Snow in Ridgewood, Queens, New York City

It was snowing yesterday morning when I walked Myrrhlyn. It was snowing this morning when I walked him. It will probably be snowing tomorrow morning when we take our morning walk, though by tomorrow I might be wearing snowshoes.

This is only the third winter I have lived in New York City and it is without a doubt the snowiest. Even before this most recent storm dumped a foot of snow on us I asked an older lifelong New Yorker what he thought about this winter, how it compared to previous winters. He said we have received more snow this season than we have received in many years and he had to reach all the way back to his childhood memories to recall a winter with this much snow.

Yesterday the temperature was slightly above freezing and the snow, often falling as down like flakes, was very wet and quickly turned to slush after it fell. Three or four times I shoveled what looked and felt like a giant 7-Eleven Slurpee. Overnight the temperature dropped below freezing, the snow changed consistency, and this morning I woke up to about ten inches of snow on top of an inch or two of slush, with some drifts nearly up to my knees. The gusty winds forced me to squint as Myrrhlyn and I made our morning rounds.

As we circumnavigated the block we saw buried cars (photo top right), local residents cleaning snow off their cars and in some cases digging their cars our from snow drifts or after having been plowed in. Many of the cars already on the road, unable to handle the slush on the streets, were slipping and sliding, unable to gain good traction. I even saw a NYPD Patrol Car, emergency lights flashing, driving by at about 10 mph. I am certain response times are up this morning.

One sight that surprised me my first winter here but that I am now growing accustomed with is seeing pedestrians walking through a snow storm holding an open umbrella over their head. It seems to make sense when the snow is really wet, but when the snow is cold, well, I just don’t get it.

I saw one umbrella yielding pedestrian walking through the middle of the intersection of 70th Ave. and 60th St. in Ridgewood (photo to the right, second from top) probably because she thought the slush on the streets, an inch or two deep, would be easier to negotiate than the eight to ten inches on most sidewalks. I think she was right.

We are predicted to receive another 3-5 inches of snow today, another 1-2 inches of wet snow tonight, and up to an inch of slush tomorrow before the storm winds down and moves out of the area. At least we have power and can easily walk to a store.

I have posted some of this morning’s photos on Picasa so that you can see for yourself what a snow storm looks like in an urban environment.

Snow

It is snowing today in New York City, as it is all across the Mid-Atlantic States. The Big Apple dodged the last big storm of a few days ago, the one that buried Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, but we are not going to miss this one. It started snowing Tuesday evening before 11:00 PM. This morning I woke up to an inch or two of very wet snow—more like an inch of snow on top of an inch of slush. This morning, when I walked our dog Myrrhlyn, the snowflakes were larger than unbroken cornflakes. They were simply huge. The air temperature is just below freezing. The photo to the right is the view of the street from one of our front, second floor windows, shot through the glass and screen.

We are predicted to receive 9-15 inches of total accumulation before the storm moves out to sea Thursday morning around 6:00 AM. With the heaviest accumulation expected this afternoon, and winds gusting to up to 40 mph, we are expecting blizzard like conditions.

Mayor Bloomberg made the decision yesterday to cancel school today. Today is only the second time in eight years that New York City Schools have been closed due to snowfall. I think it was a prudent and wise decision.

The Blizzard of 2009

That is what it is being called, "The Blizzard of 2009". Here in the New York metropolitan area we received more snow in this single eighteen hour storm than all of last winter. With the wind blowing the snow around it was hard to get a reliable measurement of the snowfall’s depth. Nevertheless I measured between ten and twelve inches in our back yard (photo top right). That may not seem much by West Virginia mountain standards but around here it is a lot.

North Church Queens made the decision soon after 7:00 AM to cancel worship. Our winter weather cancellation policy is that if two of the following three people decide and agree to cancel, the service will be cancelled. The three people are the worship leader (in this case me, or a guest preacher if I am away), the Clerk of Session, and the Moderator of the Board of Deacons. Cancelling if two of the above three agree almost insures that a decision can be reached, even if one of the three people cannot be reached.

Considering that I live over twelve miles away from North Church, I did not mind not having to drive on the wintery roads yesterday, even though the snow had stopped and the wind had died down. There were still plenty of slick spots and many of the side streets were barely passable so, even though my Sermon was prepared, I was happy to stay off the roads.

The Ridgewood Presbyterian Church, where my wife serves as Pastor, did have worship. Since we live just around the corner from the church there was no question about the worship leader and preacher being able to make it. Eleven hearty souls also made it and so at 10:00 AM we worshipped together and I was able to worship with the Ridgewood Presbyterian Church and hear my wife preach for the first time in a long time.

The Blizzard of 2009 was our dog Myrrhlyn’s first snow fall. He was scared for about the first 15 seconds but quickly came to love it. He frolicked in the drifts, dug through the snow to make sure the dirt and sidewalk were still there, and attempted to catch and eat falling snowflakes (photo bottom right). Now, after the storm, he is enjoying finding and crunching on chunks of ice.

Of Lambs and Lions

When I was a young child I learned an old wives’ tale/superstition that if March comes in like a lion, then it will go out like a lamb, or vice versa. I have seen many March’s come and go but do not remember them all, so I cannot comment of the past reliability of the aphorism. Statistically, there is at least a 50-50 chance that the old wives’ tale/superstition will be true any given year. Given long term weather patterns, the saying might be true even more often than half the time. It sure seems true this year, at least for New York City.

I do not remember what last March 1st was like, but on March 2nd winter descended on the Big Apple with a vengeance, dumping several inches of snow in the city.

Today is a beautiful spring day in the world’s greatest city. The air is crisp, the sky clear blue with just a few clouds, and the slight chill in the air hints of warmer weather to come. It is such a nice day that even my buddy, the tree in the back yard, is smiling. It seems that some old wives were right this year. Today has been a lamb of a day.

On the other hand there is Fargo, North Dakota. Although water levels in the Red River have fallen more than two feet from their record highs of a few days ago, on its last day March in Fargo is like a wild lion, roaring blowing and drifting snow nearing blizzard like conditions. I have no idea how March came into Fargo but I am sure Fargo’s citizens are finding no comfort in superstitions or old wives’ tales.

Winter’s Last Hurrah

Snow flurries welcomed the arrival of spring in the Big Apple. Although the temperature around 7:15 AM was 39 degrees Fahrenheit, snowflakes as large as goose down were falling from the sky, tickling my nose, as I walked my dog Hermes around the neighborhood. Those large white splotches in the picture to the right are the snowflakes that were falling this morning as Hermes and I made our rounds.

Spring officially arrived at 7:44 AM. Today’s high is predicted to be 45 degrees Fahrenheit.

When I was younger I enjoyed all four seasons, taking as much pleasure in x-c skiing and winter backpacking in January as I did in rock climbing on a sun baked rock face or kayaking under clear sunny skies in July. It seems that as I grow older I appreciate summer more than winter.

Snow in the City

Snow has been blowing sideways down the street in front of our home and has been accumulating on the streets and sidewalks since last night. I have been out with the shovel twice, spreading ice melt both times. I am beginning to wonder if it will ever stop snowing. I guess there is only one way to find out: to wait and see.

My wife and I moved to New York City (the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood) during the summer of 2007. The following winter seemed pretty mild by our West Virginia mountain standards and even locals were saying it was a calm winter. Even though we have seen a little more cold and snow this winter, until last night I thought the worst of winter was behind us. After all, it reached 60 degrees on Friday and 55 degrees on Saturday. I guess Punxsutawney Phil was right. There really were six more weeks of winter on the way. The forecast was for a winter storm dumping eight to fourteen inches in a 24 hour period. I measured nine inches of snow on our back porch where the wind did not blow it away or drift it higher. It was probably ten inches deep when fresh but has had some time to settle. The snow that fell over night and the forecast for more snow today was enough for the City of New York to cancel school for the first time in five years!

This morning, while walking our dog Hermes, I took a few photos to give others an idea of what the world’s greatest city looks like under a blanket of snow. My Sebago Canoe Club paddling body and fellow NOLS Alum John H. has a great time lapse video of the snow falling over night that you might want to view.