Event Summary

On Wednesday, December 4th, an area of low pressure started to develop along an old frontal boundary that snaked across the northwest Gulf of Mexico and the Gulf coast states. Meanwhile, high pressure stretched from the northern plains, across the Great Lakes, to the Mid-Atlantic coast. This high pressure locked in the cold air across the northeast United States. That night, the developing storm moved across the southeastern states to the North Carolina coast. Shortly after daybreak on the morning of Thursday, December 5th, as the storm started to move off the coast near Cape Hatteras, flurries and light snow started to move into New York City and the lower Hudson Valley. By 9 am, snow had started to fall across western Long Island and Westchester County, and bands of moderate to heavy snow had started to move into New York City and the lower Hudson Valley. An hour later, snow began to fall across the eastern end of Long Island, and the snow had become heavy over the western end of Long Island and Westchester. By 11 am, a moderate to, at times, heavy snow had spread across the entire region. This steady, moderate to heavy snow continued through most of the afternoon, falling at times at rates over an inch per hour. As the storm sped off toward the North Atlantic waters, the heavy snow began to taper off to light snow between 4 pm and 5:30 pm. By this time, an average of 5 to 7 inches had fallen across the New York Metropolitan area, Long Island and most of the lower Hudson Valley and as much as 6 to 9 inches in Orange County. As moisture continued to "wrap around" the storm, light snow continued to fall through the evening rush hour commute before tapering off to flurries and finally ending between 8 pm and 9 pm in New York City, Westchester, the lower Hudson Valley and western Long Island. Across the east end of Long Island, light snow lingered until shortly before midnight. Final snowfall accumulations ranged from 6 to 8 inches in New York City, Long Island and the nearby northern suburbs. Further north, in portions of Orange and northwest Putnam counties, where heavier snow bands had moved across, final snowfall totals ranged from 7 to 10 inches.