Event Summary

A strong low pressure system (Nor'easter) moved north to northeast, passing just east of Montauk Point before Midnight on January 25th. Snow developed between 4 and 5 am along the immediate coast and spread rapidly north during the morning rush hour. Snowfall rates up to 2 inches per hour occurred during the peak of the morning rush hour. White-out conditions caused massive traffic interruptions. Snowfall during the morning commute ranged from less than 2 inches at Montauk Point to around 6 inches across parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn. As warm air in the lower levels wrapped around this storm, snow changed to freezing rain and sleet. From mid-morning through late afternoon, light freezing rain fell along the coast with a mixture of freezing rain and sleet inland, except for just snow across Western Orange County. As the low approached Long Island, bands of moderate to heavy precipitation rotated northwest around the low. Around 1/4-inch thick ice coated trees, which caused limbs to snap off from Eastern Nassau County east across all of Suffolk County. Bands of heavy snow fell across the Lower Hudson Valley, New York City, and Western Nassau County during the evening. Here are selected snowfall amounts from this storm for: Manhattan: from 5.5 inches at Central Park to 6 inches at Columbia University. Bronx: around 6 inches county-wide. Staten Island: around 6 inches at Richmond. Brooklyn: from 5.6 inches at Graves End to 6 inches at Bayridge. Queens: from 6 inches at LaGuardia Airport to 6.4 inches at JFK Airport This low was preceded by strong northeast winds that gusted from 40 to 45 mph. In addition, minor tidal flooding occurred across Broad Channel in Queens and in Long Beach and Freeport in Nassau Counties around the times of high tides from 11 am to noon.