HELL FREEZES OVER
COVID-wracked city digs out of biggest snowstorm in years
Getting around Thursday by car or foot was no easy task as New York and surrounding area dealt with major snowstorm on top of rampaging pandemic.
Let the big dig begin!
The city was walloped with its biggest snowstorm in years overnight, leaving Central Park blanketed with 10 inches of snow as of 7 a.m. Thursday morning and the Bronx with even more, according to city officials and meteorologists.
“We were certainly braced for a major storm and already we know the amount of snow we saw in the last 24 hours was the most we’ve seen since January 2016,” Mayor de Blasio said at a press conference Thursday morning.
While the total snowfall was less than some forecasts predicted, the combination of wet, heavy snow and lingering cold temperatures could make for a slow cleanup and messy conditions over the next couple days, said city Emergency Management Commissioner Deanne Criswell.
“Mother Nature is not being very kind on the back end of this storm,” said Acting Sanitation Department Commissioner Edward Grayson, with temperatures expected to remain at or below freezing through much of the weekend.
City officials said outdoor dining structures seem to have weathered the snowstorm relatively well based on early reports. Outdoor dining was set to resume across the city starting at 6 p.m. Thursday.
“Tonight, for those who are enjoying some outdoor dining… it might not be the night to wear your good shoes,” Grayson warned. Sanitation workers will have to keep salting through the night to clear up the snow, creating slushy conditions.
The snowstorm forced some New Yorkers to wake up early to begin shoveling off cars and slippery sidewalks in preparation for the morning commute.
“I’ve been outside since seven in the morning, shoveling snow,” said Nickie Agaj, a building superintendent in Forest Hills, Queens. “I gotta do the job.”
The snow was expected to stop altogether by 1 p.m. Thursday.
Snow accumulation hit 10.5 inches in the Woodlawn section of the Bronx at the northern tip of the city, 6.5 inches in Brooklyn’s Coney Island, and 11.5 inches in Jamaica, Queens as of Thursday morning, according to reports from the National Weather Service.
The precipitation began about 4 p.m. Wednesday with wet heavy snow, threatening power and internet for families stuck working and going to school at home.
Olivia Stevers, 23, is unable to work from home due to the blankets of snow outside her Cobble Hill apartment. Stevers works as an associate producer at a cable news network and her Spectrum internet has been completely down since the storm started.
“All of our systems we normally use I can’t get into because of it, even my email,” Stevers said. “And my boss would rather me not go into the office in conditions like these.”
“I guess I’m going to have a friend over and we will cook some food,” she added. ‘I may go get a cup of coffee, but I’m trying
my best to get out of this snow.’
Criswell said Thursday morning the city saw fewer downed power lines than feared.
The forecast was so dire that Gov. Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declared states of emergency hours before the first snowflakes fell, urging already quarantined residents to stay home and off icy roads.
Mayor de Blasio urged all New Yorkers to take public transportation or work at home if they could.
“The best thing you can do, don’t be out on the streets, don’t drive until we get through the plowing today,” Hizzoner said Thursday. “Tomorrow’s going to be a much better day.”
Some New York transplants were delighted by the winter wonderland that greeted them Thursday morning.
“Since I’m originally from Arizona, I love the snow. It reminds me of Christmas movies I watched as a kid,” said Natalie Barber, 20, a student living in Midtown Manhattan.
“Sometimes it can get really windy and that’s a part I don’t like as much,” she added.
The Nor’easter battered much of the east coast Wednesday night into Thursday morning, prompting the National Weather Service to issue storm warnings in 13 states.
The reams of snow won’t turn to slush and water quite as quickly as in years past because the weather will remain cold for the next several days.
“Some exceptionally cold air for mid-December will linger through Friday,” said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Carl Babinski.
Despite all the white stuff outside, city schoolchildren weren’t given a snow day. Thanks to all the remote learning tools that were put in place during the pandemic, public school students were told they didn’t have to leave their home to attend class: they just had to turn on their computer.
“Look, our kids need the chance to keep learning,” de Blasio said. “They’ve been through so much this year, they have lost ground in terms of their learning. We need to help them.”
Kids will have the chance to play in the snow after school, Hizzoner added.
But some city parents weren’t willing to wait that long.
Fachtna ” hAodha, 42, spent the morning in Fort Greene Park with his 4-year-old daughter never had a chance to play in the snow before.
” hAodha, who works in construction, said his daughter has some remote learning but they are treating it like a full snow day.
“This is her first snow day,” the Boerum Hill father said. “She’s seen it before but has never gotten to play in it ... She’s loving it.”
“Snow day!” the enthusiastic preschooler yelled with a snow ball in her hands.
School buildings will reopen Friday, according to city officials.