This snow will stay awhile
Region digs out in sub-freezing temperatures following record nor’easter
Snow plow drivers and residents equipped with shovels — or in one case, a colander — headed out to attack the snow left by Thursday ’s record-breaking nor’easter.
The snowstorm of historic proportion dropped 15 to 30 inches of snow in the Capital Region Thursday, and the National Weather Service warned the snow will stick around for at least a couple days because of below-freezing temperatures to remain constant at least through the weekend.
“We will see an increase in some sunshine,” said Tom Wasula, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Albany. That sunshine could help with melting some snow still left on the roads, he said. But the actual snowpack won’t be melting much at all, Wasula said
So plow drivers and shovel-wielding folks headed out to clear roads, driveways and cars.
As Albany ’s snow emergency started at 8 a.m. Friday, cars were either buried under two feet of snow or quickly being dug out by owners hoping to escape the tow trucks sent out to remove vehicles in violation of the emergency parking rules.
Shoveling wasn’t just a Friday morning task for Phil Wunginger, who was nearly done uncovering his red Toyota at State and Dove streets.
“I started yesterday,” Wunginger said, describing his slow-and-steady approach. “I’m happy I got it done.”
People across the region ventured out to
find roads still clogged. In Albany, Mayor Kathy Sheehan said she was happy to welcome state Department of Transportation teams sent to help with the city ’s effort.
David Galin, Sheehan’s chief of staff, said the Department of General Services was using front loaders and dump trucks to remove snow from the most dense neighborhoods and areas where parking is limited, while also using plowing crews in less dense neighborhoods.
Parts of the city got hit with 25 inches.
“We anticipate the snow removal process taking the full 48-hour Snow Emergency period because of the need for crews to clean the odd side of streets during the first 24 hours, and then the even side of streets during the second 24 hours,” Galin said, adding that residents should still stay off the road “as much as possible” to allow crews to efficiently clear the snow.
Tom Dobush got his car out of the snow on Lancaster Street and planned to drive down to his shop at Bavarian Rocket Science, an automotive business dedicated to German makes and models. Snow emergencies and hours of shoveling don’t trouble Dobush. “I grew up in Albany. I’m used to it.”
Charles and Barbara Smoot were busy in the morning scraping ice and shoveling snow from their car on Sherman Street. They needed to go to the supermarket, and they were frustrated with the city ’s pace of plowing.
“As you can see, no one’s cleaned anything,” Barbara said, pointing her broom at a snowcovered street.
Neelofer Qadir lives in North Carolina. She was visiting a friend in Albany when the storm hit. “She didn’t have a shovel,” said Qadir, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Qadir was left to improvise, using a colander to clear the snow away from her car in Washington Park.
A shovel had been ordered and they would be picking it up later.
What’s ahead
The nor’easter that began Wednesday launched the storm into the top 10 biggest snowfalls in a December in Albany, and the eighth heaviest since records began in the late 1800s, the Weather Service noted.
The overnight temperature, likely to get down to 5 degrees, should harden and compact the snow, possibly down to 15 inches Saturday morning, Wasula said.
On Sunday, the Capital Region may get into the mid-30s. But that doesn’t mean a significant melting of the snowpack, Wasula said. The next chance that temperatures could get well above freezing may not happen until the latter part of next week before Christmas, he said.
“The snowpack is pretty deep … so it’s going to be around for the next several days. That’s for sure,” Wasula said.