Aferocious winter storm that tore across the
southeastern seaboard slammed into New York
City overnight, forcing the cancellation of
thousands of flights and threatening train, bus
and rail service for millions of commuters across
the region Wednesday.
However, the Department of Education
announced early on Wednesday morning that all
public schools in New York City would remain
open despite the winter weather.
The giant amoeba-shaped storm officially
touched down in Central Park between 8:30 and 9
p.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.
But hours earlier, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
had already declared a weather emergency,
something he did not do during the Dec. 26 and
27 blizzard that paralyzed the city with 20 inches
of snow.
By morning, the snow was tapering off across
New York City, leaving far less of a deep, white
blanket on roads and sidewalks than expected.
Nine inches of snow had accumulated in Central
Park by 7 a.m., the National Weather Service
said. The Connecticut suburbs were hardest hit,
with as much as 22 inches falling there overnight,
according to the weather service.
Hundreds of flights throughout the three major
New York airports had been canceled even before
the storm began pummeling the region, and
nearly every domestic flight through Wednesday
afternoon — thousands — had been scrubbed.
Service on some subway lines, like the B train,
was suspended earlier than usual Tuesday night,
and Long Island Railroad officials said they had
canceled some trains Wednesday morning and
would replace them with buses. Metro North
scaled back to a Sunday schedule.
With the arrival of snow in New York and the
unusually severe storm in the South — which
dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas
— the National Weather Service said an unusual
nationwide occurrence had taken place. There
was now snow on the ground in every single
one of the 50 states — including Hawaii, which
had snowfall on one of its volcanoes — except for
Florida. New York City was also well on its way to
surpassing the 22.4 inches of snowfall in a
normal season, with 21.8 inches as of Tuesday,
said Christopher Vaccaro, a weather service
spokesman.
Many New York City streets - even busy
Manhattan thoroughfares like 34th Street - were a
slippery mess Wednesday morning, with cabs
slowly inching along to avoid accidents. Dozens
of suburban school districts decided to shut
down as the force of the storm became apparent.
Unlike his reaction to the previous blizzard, Mayor
Bloomberg took major steps to show that the
city was prepared for the worst. But his
declaration of a weather emergency is not the
same as a snow emergency, which would have
required residents to remove their cars from
about 300 designated routes. Instead, the city
said New Yorkers could leave their cars on the
streets, but by the curb, not in the traffic lanes.
The declaration said that any vehicles “found to
be blocking roadways or impeding the ability to
plow streets ” would be towed at the owners’
expense.
The declaration was issued even though the
snowstorm, the powerful product of a
combination of the weather systems that had
already disrupted daily routines in the South and
the Midwest, had not yet reached the city.
Hours before the declaration, Mr. Bloomberg
promised a better-coordinated response than the
laggardly one that followed the blizzard. The
mayor said the city had made significant changes
to emergency procedures since then.
“We recognize that we did not do the job that
New Yorkers rightly expect of us in the last
storm, ” Mr. Bloomberg said at a news conference
at City Hall. “We intend to make sure that does
not happen again.”
The city lined up the same street-clearing force
that was left standing by on Friday, when less
than two inches of snow fell in Central Park.
Officials said 365 salt spreaders and 1,700 plows
were ready to go. Some were to wait out the
storm not at their depots but in the
neighborhoods they were to clear.
There were signs that the Sanitation Department
started fending off the snow before it arrived, at
least where plows were slow to show last
month. Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, a
Democrat from Queens, said that by 2 p.m.
Tuesday, the city had salted many streets in her
district, which includes Forest Hills, Rego Park and
Kew Gardens,
The city also announced plans to send workers to
shovel snow at intersections as soon as streets
were plowed, and it began using social
networking sites to advertise for more help. The
New York City Housing Authority sent a message
on Twitter that said: “Turn a snow day into a
payday. The city is looking for snow removal
help. Apply now. ” It contained a link to a page
that said the city would pay $12 an hour, which
would increase to $18 an hour after 40 hours.
The city’s subway, bus and rail networks pledged
to run regular service on Wednesday morning,
but all prepared for service changes. Officials
made plans to halt express service on some
subway lines on Tuesday night to move trains
into tunnels and out of the snow for the night.
Mr. Bloomberg faced criticism for not declaring
an emergency as the blizzard bore down last
month. His top aides have since apologized,
saying a snow emergency declaration probably
would have improved the response. On
Tuesday, officials said the mayor had declared a
weather emergency because it would give them
more flexibility than a snow emergency.
Last-minute shoppers jammed the aisles at some
markets. Sandy Miller, who ventured into
Citarella, a market on Third Avenue near 75th
Street in Manhattan, said, “People were buying as
if this storm is going to prevent them from eating
for the next four days. ”
Reporting was contributed by Michael Barbaro,
Michael M. Grynbaum, Javier C. Hernandez and
Liz Robbins.
Source: Http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/nyregion/13snow.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
southeastern seaboard slammed into New York
City overnight, forcing the cancellation of
thousands of flights and threatening train, bus
and rail service for millions of commuters across
the region Wednesday.
However, the Department of Education
announced early on Wednesday morning that all
public schools in New York City would remain
open despite the winter weather.
The giant amoeba-shaped storm officially
touched down in Central Park between 8:30 and 9
p.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service said.
But hours earlier, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg
had already declared a weather emergency,
something he did not do during the Dec. 26 and
27 blizzard that paralyzed the city with 20 inches
of snow.
By morning, the snow was tapering off across
New York City, leaving far less of a deep, white
blanket on roads and sidewalks than expected.
Nine inches of snow had accumulated in Central
Park by 7 a.m., the National Weather Service
said. The Connecticut suburbs were hardest hit,
with as much as 22 inches falling there overnight,
according to the weather service.
Hundreds of flights throughout the three major
New York airports had been canceled even before
the storm began pummeling the region, and
nearly every domestic flight through Wednesday
afternoon — thousands — had been scrubbed.
Service on some subway lines, like the B train,
was suspended earlier than usual Tuesday night,
and Long Island Railroad officials said they had
canceled some trains Wednesday morning and
would replace them with buses. Metro North
scaled back to a Sunday schedule.
With the arrival of snow in New York and the
unusually severe storm in the South — which
dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas
— the National Weather Service said an unusual
nationwide occurrence had taken place. There
was now snow on the ground in every single
one of the 50 states — including Hawaii, which
had snowfall on one of its volcanoes — except for
Florida. New York City was also well on its way to
surpassing the 22.4 inches of snowfall in a
normal season, with 21.8 inches as of Tuesday,
said Christopher Vaccaro, a weather service
spokesman.
Many New York City streets - even busy
Manhattan thoroughfares like 34th Street - were a
slippery mess Wednesday morning, with cabs
slowly inching along to avoid accidents. Dozens
of suburban school districts decided to shut
down as the force of the storm became apparent.
Unlike his reaction to the previous blizzard, Mayor
Bloomberg took major steps to show that the
city was prepared for the worst. But his
declaration of a weather emergency is not the
same as a snow emergency, which would have
required residents to remove their cars from
about 300 designated routes. Instead, the city
said New Yorkers could leave their cars on the
streets, but by the curb, not in the traffic lanes.
The declaration said that any vehicles “found to
be blocking roadways or impeding the ability to
plow streets ” would be towed at the owners’
expense.
The declaration was issued even though the
snowstorm, the powerful product of a
combination of the weather systems that had
already disrupted daily routines in the South and
the Midwest, had not yet reached the city.
Hours before the declaration, Mr. Bloomberg
promised a better-coordinated response than the
laggardly one that followed the blizzard. The
mayor said the city had made significant changes
to emergency procedures since then.
“We recognize that we did not do the job that
New Yorkers rightly expect of us in the last
storm, ” Mr. Bloomberg said at a news conference
at City Hall. “We intend to make sure that does
not happen again.”
The city lined up the same street-clearing force
that was left standing by on Friday, when less
than two inches of snow fell in Central Park.
Officials said 365 salt spreaders and 1,700 plows
were ready to go. Some were to wait out the
storm not at their depots but in the
neighborhoods they were to clear.
There were signs that the Sanitation Department
started fending off the snow before it arrived, at
least where plows were slow to show last
month. Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz, a
Democrat from Queens, said that by 2 p.m.
Tuesday, the city had salted many streets in her
district, which includes Forest Hills, Rego Park and
Kew Gardens,
The city also announced plans to send workers to
shovel snow at intersections as soon as streets
were plowed, and it began using social
networking sites to advertise for more help. The
New York City Housing Authority sent a message
on Twitter that said: “Turn a snow day into a
payday. The city is looking for snow removal
help. Apply now. ” It contained a link to a page
that said the city would pay $12 an hour, which
would increase to $18 an hour after 40 hours.
The city’s subway, bus and rail networks pledged
to run regular service on Wednesday morning,
but all prepared for service changes. Officials
made plans to halt express service on some
subway lines on Tuesday night to move trains
into tunnels and out of the snow for the night.
Mr. Bloomberg faced criticism for not declaring
an emergency as the blizzard bore down last
month. His top aides have since apologized,
saying a snow emergency declaration probably
would have improved the response. On
Tuesday, officials said the mayor had declared a
weather emergency because it would give them
more flexibility than a snow emergency.
Last-minute shoppers jammed the aisles at some
markets. Sandy Miller, who ventured into
Citarella, a market on Third Avenue near 75th
Street in Manhattan, said, “People were buying as
if this storm is going to prevent them from eating
for the next four days. ”
Reporting was contributed by Michael Barbaro,
Michael M. Grynbaum, Javier C. Hernandez and
Liz Robbins.
Source: Http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/nyregion/13snow.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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