Winter storm arrives in NYC, bringing mix of rain, snow
Light snow fell in New York City on Saturday as the first potent winter storm in more than a year moved up the U.S. East Coast, canceling hundreds of weekend flights and halting some trains.
About 1 to 2 inches of snow were set to fall in the city before changing to rain overnight, the National Weather Service said. Further north and west of the city, snow totals will increase sharply.
“What we’re seeing, though, is a really statewide event,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a briefing. “Eight to 12 inches throughout two thirds to possibly three quarters of the state.”
The storm marks the potential end of a record snow drought in Philadelphia and New York City, said Ashton Robinson Cook, a forecaster at the U.S. Weather Prediction Center. Through Friday, New York’s Central Park has gone 691 days without an inch or more of snow, smashing the previous record of 383 days that ended on March 21, 1998, he said.
Philadelphia, where the storm is starting as snow, had gone 705 days through Friday without an inch or more, besting its old record of 661 days set from 1972 to 1973.
“The streak is in jeopardy today,” Robinson Cook said.
At least 332 flights have already been canceled into and out of airports across the Northeast through Sunday, including in Newark, Washington and Boston, according to tracking website FlightAware. Amtrak has scrubbed passenger trains to Boston, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Roanoke, Virginia, as the storm moves north.
Boston will be the hardest hit of the East Coast cities, with between 5 and 12 inches falling overnight. To the west and north of Interstate 95, from 12 to 18 inches of snow may fall from western Maryland through upstate New York and into southern New England.
Near the coast, heavy wet snow and winds of up to 35 miles per hour may knock down trees and powerlines leading to outages.
“Travel could be very difficult to impossible,” the weather service said. “If you must travel, keep an extra flashlight, food and water in your vehicle in case of an emergency.”
While winter has been mild so far, in part due to the El Nino pattern in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, forecasters at the start of the season said there was a potential for a large snowstorm or two to strike.
The latest system will wind down early Sunday in New York with the potential for additional flurries. In Boston, upstate New York and across New England, the heaviest snow will continue through the day Sunday.