‘INTENSE STORM’
Albany snowstorm eighth largest on record; fourth largest in December
CAPITAL REGION, N.Y. » The Capital Region experienced its first major snowstorm of this meteorological winter season. Starting Wednesday night and petering out Thursday afternoon, the snowstorm packed a powdered punch across much of the state as well.
As of Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service Albany confirmed 22.9 inches at Albany International Airport. That total in less than 12 hours signified the eighth largest snowstorm of all-time in Albany and the fourth greatest total all-time in December, topping the Dec. 1-3, 2019 storm, which lasted about 39 hours, by 0.3 inches.
Ray O’Keefe, the Meteorologist in Charge of the National Weather Service Office in Albany, spoke to the almost thunderstorm-like intensity of the snowfall rate.
“It was a remarkable storm in terms of its intensity. It produced probably three to five-plus inches per hour consistently, hour upon hour, so it was a very significant storm,” O’Keefe remarked.
“Roughly speaking two to three feet of snow fell in the Capital District. Widespread reports [ have] 30 inches in Schenectady and Saratoga County. I think Rensselaer County just came up a little short on 30 inches but basically two to three feet of snowfall reports across the greater Capital District,” O’Keefe continued on the
“Roughly speaking two to three feet of snow fell in the Capital District. Widespread reports [have] 30 inches in Schenectady and Saratoga County.” — Ray O’Keefe, the meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service Office in Albany
amounts of snow dumped on the area.
O’Keefe also explained how the initial forecast turned into a 1% whopper of a snowstorm event.
“[ Wednesday’s] forecast called for about 12 to 18 inches right here in Albany and less as you went further north. They ended up getting in some cases three feet of snow up across Washington County and into Saratoga County,” O’Keefe said of the initial forecast.
“So [ Wednesday] when we did the analysis of how much snow we were expecting, we had a lot of conference calls, we talked to our national center in Washington who works on snowfall prediction, we talked to our neighboring offices on snowfall prediction and we, of course, dug into the data ourselves here in Albany looking at the forecast,” O’Keefe explained on the forecasting process.
“Those were the most likely outcomes that we believed would happen with the storm. If you looked at a range of possibilities, the 30-inch totals that we did see was in that range of possibilities but it was about a 1% chance. So what we’re looking at here is about a 1% chance of it happening and 1% chances obviously happen from time to time and in this case they did happen,” O’Keefe added on the oddity which came to fruition in the Capital Region.
Elsewhere in Albany County, Cohoes was blanketed with 24 inches.
Rensselaer County saw its highest total of 26 inches at Hampton Manor. Poestenkill saw 23.5 inches. The City of Troy recorded 21 inches. East Greenbush registered 22 inches. Parts of Brunswick, West Sand Lake, and Averill Park also tallied at least 20 inches of snow.
In Saratoga County, Saratoga Springs saw an accumulation of 35 inches, as did Ganesvoort. Clifton Park totaled 29 inches. Round Lake and Wilton both topped 34 inches, Milton, Burnt Hills, and Ballston Spa saw at least 31 inches apiece, Malta, Charlton, Corinth all registered at least 30 inches of snow as well.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency for 18 counties feeling the effects of the winter storm. Albany, Rensselaer, and Saratoga counties were among those impacted by the snow.
“With a large portion of the state continuing to deal with heavy snowfall and extremely dangerous driving conditions, I am declaring a state of emergency in eighteen counties across the Southern Tier, Mohawk Valley, Capital, and MidHudson Regions,” Cuomo stated.
“New Yorkers are no strangers to extreme winter weather and we will get through this as we always do. We have thousands of personnel and pieces of equipment engaged in operations throughout the state and will continue to do everything we can to help communities until the job is done. In the meantime, I am urging all New Yorkers to stay home and avoid any unnecessary travel so snow plows and road crews can clear roads as quickly and as safely as possible,” Cuomo added regarding treacherous road conditions.
The poor visibility and slick road conditions also factored into a fatal accident that happened at approximately 2: 30 a. m., Thursday, on Interstate 787, exit 4B, in the southbound lanes in the City of Albany. According to New York State Police, a person, operating a snowmobile, has died after colliding with a tractor-trailer. The fatal accident had caused all southbound lanes to be closed for a time as troopers probed the cause of the crash.
Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan commented on the tragedy that happened overnight Thursday.
“I had to ask my fire chief and police chief twice to repeat that to me,” Sheehan said in amazement.
“It was a snowmobiler on 787. I was told by our Commissioner of General Services that he was getting calls from our plow drivers of snowmobilers in the middle of the night on Western Avenue,” Sheehan continued.
“We don’t need to make the jobs of these individuals harder and that is what happened during the storm, so I’m hoping we don’t have any more of that. We still have a lot of work to clear snow. We still have a lot of work to do to get back to normal,” Sheehan added, noting that she’s asking the state for help with dump trucks and front loaders to physically remove the snow from the city.
Many counties and municipalities also declared their own snow emergencies and issued advisories as well.
In addition to the State of Emergency, the City of Troy declared a Snow Emergency, beginning 8 p.m., Thursday, meaning all vehicles must be parked on the even-numbered side of designated Snow Emergency streets for 24 hours. Plus, starting at 8 p.m., Friday, Dec. 18, all vehicles must be parked on the odd-numbered side of designated Snow Emergency streets for the next 24 hours.
• For Snow Emergency information, call (518) 2748769 for pre-recorded messages, visit www.troyny.gov or the City’s social media channels – Facebook (www. facebook. com/ troy518) / Twitter (www.twitter.com/ TroyCityHall)
• To locate a towed vehicle, call the Troy Police Department non- emergency line at (518) 270- 4421
• For information on specific streets or vehicle impound locations, call the DPW dispatcher at (518) 270- 4579
• During an emergency, dial 9-1-1
• For additional questions regarding the City’s Snow Emergency program, review the Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQ) page on the City website.
• To report power outages or to determine the status of service restoration, contact National Grid at 1-800-867-5222 or report it online.
• For info on local weather conditions, visit the NWS website at www. weather.gov/aly/
During a snow emergency, residents are encouraged to use public parking