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.
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.
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“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.”
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