NYC Sees First Significant Snowfall of Winter

Jul 28, 2023

New Yorkers awoke to a snowy, slushy morning, their first in an unusually snow-free season. Forecasters predicted up to seven inches of snow in other parts of the Northeast.

Judson Jones, Hurubie Meko and Livia Albeck-Ripka

A sloppy coating of snow and slush greeted New York City on Tuesday morning, as the first significant snowfall of the winter finally arrived and brought challenges for the morning commute. Other parts of the Northeast reported as much as six inches of accumulation in snowfall that began late Monday.

The snow had stopped in the city by late morning, but the National Weather Service warned of slick roads and hazardous travel, especially for those attempting to reach the city from the northern suburbs. It has been an unusually snow-free winter in the city, although other areas of the Northeast have had a more typical season.

Here’s what to know:

Forecasters were anticipating up to seven inches of snow across parts of northeast New Jersey, the Lower Hudson Valley and Southern Connecticut.

In New York City, after not recording an inch of snow all winter, Central Park recorded 1.8 inches, La Guardia Airport 2.7 inches and Newark Airport 1.7 inches.

Several school districts in New York City suburbs are closed today, including schools in Ossining, New Rochelle and Yorktown.

In New York City and the rest of the region, some marveled at what would usually be considered unremarkable snowfall, sharing photos of the first flurries and expressing disbelief about “actual snow” accumulating on the ground.

Hurubie Meko, Téa Kvetenadze and Nate Schweber

As the snow turned to slush on Tuesday, people across the city broke out their sleds to get in a few rides before it all melted away.

In Fort Tryon Park, in Manhattan, Andrew Billiter, 27, carried a bright blue sled up a hill.

Mr. Billiter, a Washington Heights resident, said he went outside as soon as he could Tuesday morning, before his workday started.

“I’m from Southern California so I take every opportunity I get to go out in the snow,” he said. “The novelty of four distinct seasons is never lost on me.”

Down the slope, Maya Kite and her daughters Bethy, 8, and Sophie, 5, put finishing touches on a snowman.

Ms. Kite, 35, a nursing student who grew up in Chicago, said she was no stranger to harsh winters, so it “feels weird” to experience a snowless season.

The trio shrieked as they chased each other through the park.

“We tried sledding but it didn’t really work,” Sophie said.

“It’s a little too wet for sledding but perfect for a snowman,” Bethy added.

Further south, in the northwestern corner of Central Park, another group was taking advantage of the snow still clinging to the grass.

Michelle Cunico, 59, who was visiting her daughter, Tahnee Shanahan, 29, on the Upper West Side, watched her grandchildren as they sledded down a hill.

“We’ve been watching all night,” Ms. Cunico said of the snowfall, adding that “we’ve all been looking out the window and seeing it build and build and build.”

Her grandchildren Billie, 5, and Ted, 4, laughed as they sledded down the hill, even when they rolled more than glided. Their younger sister, Nancy, 1, watched her siblings while bundled up in a stroller.

The family, originally from Australia, was enjoying their first real snowfall in the city since they arrived nearly a year ago, Ms. Shanahan said.

“We’re meant to be at school and we said no school,” Ms. Shanahan said, laughing.

Across the city in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, another parent was choosing to delay school for a little while.

Chhay Chhun and his 5-year-old daughter, Zoey, built tiny “snowpeople” out of baseball-sized snowballs.

As they worked, Zoey pelted her father with more than a few snowballs, flopped on her back to make snow angels and even tugged a blue plastic sled to the top of a low hill and skidded down by herself.

“This is great for me,” said Mr. Chhun, 43, an internet entrepreneur. “It used to be me having to sit with her on that sled and it hurt my back.”

The park was a detour on the way to taking Zoey to kindergarten, Mr. Chhun said. He felt a pang of guilt that she would be late to school, but he said the memories they were making were worth it.

“Being a dad of a 5-year-old, you quickly learn these moments go by quickly,” he said. “It’s nice to enjoy it.”

Judson Jones

To the north and west of New York City, New Jersey residents saw more snow than those in the city; Montvale, N.J., received five inches, and Bloomingdale, N.J., stacked up six inches. Closer to the city, totals were a bit less; Cedar Grove, N.J., received about four inches, and Harrison, N.J., had two and a half inches.

Wesley Parnell

Warren Fare, 31, who works in building maintenance for the city’s Department of Education, said he had to put his truck into 4-wheel drive as he commuted from Long Island to Queens. “It was regular traffic but it was very slippery,” he said. “I couldn’t go more than 45 or else I’d feel myself veering toward the wall.”

His word of advice for other drivers: “Just be careful, it really is like black ice.”

He said he missed the big snow storms he grew up with, particularly when he thinks about his 2-year-old son.

“I want him to experience what we had in the 90’s,” he said. “School would get canceled, everyone would bundle and go play outside.”

Judson Jones

The deepest snow, about half a foot with isolated higher amounts, fell from northern New Jersey through Connecticut into western Massachusetts. According to Boston National Weather Service office forecasters, northern Massachusetts and the Berkshires may see a few more inches of snow, but drier air has really limited the amount of snow growth. Areas to the south and east are more likely to experience “snizzle,” which is meteorology slang for a mix of snow and freezing drizzle.

Lauren McCarthy

Soribel Fernandez, 48, said the snow “wasn’t an issue” during her roughly 40 minute commute on the Long Island Railroad into midtown Manhattan. Ms. Fernandez, who works in the Fashion District, was bundled up in a long yellow snow jacket. “That was considered major?” she asked of the area’s most significant snowfall this year. “I go upstate all the time, and that’s nothing.”

Judson Jones

New York City hasn’t seen an inch of snow all winter. That changed this morning when Central Park recorded 1.8 inches of snow, La Guardia Airport 2.7 inches and Newark Airport 1.7 inches. The brief bout of snow is tapering off in the city now.

Hurubie Meko

A lone snowman stood in the northwest corner of Central Park on Tuesday, as dogs explored it during off-leash hours at the park.

Nate Schweber

Lewis Korman, 6, struggled to contain his disappointment as he walked past the Barclays Center toward the school where he attends first grade.

When he saw the snow falling last night, he got excited to finally go sledding, like he did last year. But splashing through slushy muck made him realize the whole winter may pass without him getting to ride a sled once.

“I want spring,” he said, stomping his feet.

Nate Schweber, Téa Kvetenadze and Wesley Parnell

The snow and slush that greeted New Yorkers on Tuesday morning wasn’t much, but for those who are fond of snowy winters, the light accumulation was just enough to celebrate.

“About time!” said Emily Mecham, 38, as she walked through Washington Heights. “You have to have some benefit of being cold.”

The Utah native is used to epic winters but said this New York season has been “underwhelming and disappointing” in terms of snowfall.

“I have two little boys and they’ve been dying to go sledding,” Ms. Mecham said. “Of course the first year we get a sled and store it in our New York City apartment, there’s like no reason to go sledding.”

In Brooklyn, Rosario Lopez, 46, traveled 10 blocks from her home in Bedford-Stuyvesant to stand in the white expanse of Fort Greene Park and take pictures.

When she moved to New York from Mexico in 1996, her young son would often come to the same spot to build snowmen on days like this, she said. Her son is now 27, and she said she would post photos on social media of her posing in the spot.

Her only complaint, as she walked off to open the laundromat where she works, is she expected a slow day.

“Who’s going to come to wash today?” she said.

At Queensboro Plaza, a commuting hub in Queens, business went on as planned for food vendors, bodegas and commuters. An inch of snow had collected on the grass and tops of cars.

For Luis Miranda, 34, the wet snowfall did not count as a real winter storm. His metric: whether or not his construction crew had to go in to work.

“If there was more snow we would have canceled work today, but there wasn’t much, it’s business as usual today,” he said as he walked to a job site in Long Island City.

He continued: “I like snow when it falls, when it’s still pretty, but this right here, look at it — it’s already turned into nasty water on the side of streets.”

Téa Kvetenadze

Joe Palarca, 45, an administrative assistant, was waiting for his bus at 6:30 a.m. in Washington Heights under a light flurry. Before today he wasn’t sure if the city was going to get snow this season. “I’ve been wondering whether or not it would come,” he said. “I like to look at it; I don’t like to have to commute through it.” Still, he said the accumulation wasn’t too bad. “I didn’t need boots!”

Judson Jones

The sun just rose in New York and the temperature outside will continue to warm. A slushy mix of snow, sleet and rain in the city will continue its transition to rain over the next few hours, likely turning to all rain by 10 a.m., if not a little earlier.

Judson Jones

Snow reports are beginning to come in this morning. Some preliminary reports of half of a foot are being reported in places like Warwick, N.Y., and Rockville, Conn.

Shashank Bengali

Several school districts in New York City suburbs have announced that they will be closed today because of the weather, including schools in Ossining, New Rochelle and Yorktown.

The Ossining Schools will be closed tomorrow, Tuesday February 28th due to weather. Please be safe!

Hurubie Meko

It’s just lightly snowing now in south Harlem, where snow hasn’t really accumulated on sidewalks or on the roads. It’s mostly slush.

Daniel Victor

There has been little sledding or snowball fighting. Few white-tipped trees have been seen in Central Park. Umbrellas have been used far more than snow boots.

An unusually snow-free winter has denied — or spared — New Yorkers their typical winter experience. Waking up to a coating of snow on Tuesday, thin though it was in most areas, was the first time this season that many city dwellers had seen a significant snowfall, the kind that sticks to cars and turns street corners into slushy obstacles.

There has been plenty of rain, so meteorologists have not feared a drought. But the lack of snow has neared or set records.

While there had been a few instances of flurries this winter, the city did not have its first measurable snowfall, defined as at least 0.1 inches, until Feb. 1, when it was not-so-walloped by 0.4 inches recorded in Central Park. It was the latest arrival of the first measurable snow on record, surpassing the previous record of Jan. 29, 1973.

The modest bit of snowfall in the city ended a streak of 328 days without snow, the second-longest on record behind a 332-day spell that ended on Dec. 15, 2020.

Compare the totals in your city with those of the past.

Livia Albeck-Ripka

Winter finally came to New York City on Monday, at the tail end of February, in the form of a snowstorm that would have barely made headlines in years past.

But the storm, which could last until late Tuesday morning in some parts of the region, seemed likely to make for a difficult morning, especially for those with no choice but to brave whatever the weather had in store.

Hours before sunrise, snowfall totals began trickling in. More than four inches had fallen in Fairfield, Conn., according to the National Weather Service.

The snowstorm began to bear down across the Northeast on Monday evening, with forecasters anticipating up to seven inches of snow across parts of northeast New Jersey, the Lower Hudson Valley and Southern Connecticut. Up to five inches could also fall in parts of New York City, according to the National Weather Service. But by daybreak, the Weather Service said, that precipitation will probably turn into a sloppy mix of sleet and rain.

However, forecasters warned that temperatures across Long Island and the New York City metro area may never fall below freezing, which would likely cut snowfall accumulations.

Type in your community to see the full range of possibilities in the next few days.

“I suspect that it will be a messy commute in the morning,” said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist with the Weather Service. Those attempting to reach the city from the northern suburbs, he added, will most likely have the toughest time. The Weather Service warned of slick roads and hazardous travel.

Even as most of the Northeast experienced a relatively mild winter, other parts of the country were reeling from their bouts of wild weather.

Winter weather in the Midwest last week resulted in at least one death and caused disruptions across several states, with about 150,000 customers in Michigan remaining without power for several days as of Tuesday morning, according to poweroutage.us. In California, rare and dangerous storms brought flash flooding and whiteouts last week. And tornadoes in Oklahoma injured at least a dozen this week.

But in New York City and the rest of the region, some marveled at the usually unremarkable phenomenon: Some shared photos of the first flurries or expressed their excitement, like one Twitter user who said it was their first snowstorm in New York City. There was even some disbelief about “actual snow” accumulating on the ground or wistfulness about the season.

One person in Vestal, N.Y., along the Pennsylvania border, remarked about the town looking “like a snow globe.”

Derrick Bryson Taylor contributed reporting.