Event Summary

As a cold high pressure system settled over New England, a series of low pressure systems developed off the Mid Atlantic Coast during Friday, December 5th and Saturday, December 6th. The first low pressure system developed along the North Carolina Coast during Friday morning. As this low moved northeast, it intensified. Light snow developed and quickly spread northeast across the area during the morning. Snowfall became heavy across the NYC Metro Area, Long Island, and Southern Westchester County during the afternoon. Between 7 and 10 pm that evening, a 6 to 10 inch snowfall occurred across this area. There were major impacts to mass transit operations during the evening's "rush" hours. As this low moved southeast of Long Island, snowfall intensity decreased and became light across the region. The second low pressure system developed further north and west along the DELMARVA Coast during Saturday morning. As this low rapidly intensified, it moved slowly northeast. Light snow became heavy across the entire region by early afternoon. Blizzard conditions developed from Queens County east across Suffolk County between 1 pm and 6 pm. Wind gusts of at least 35 mph combined with heavy falling snow created "white out" conditions that reduced visibility to less than 1/4 mile. Major widespread impacts to mass transit occurred across the entire region. Storm Total Snowfall amounts for this 2 day episode ranged from 6 to 25 inches. Most snowfall accumulations were between 10 and 15 inches. Here are selected snowfall amounts for: New York County - from 14.0 inches at Central Park Zoo to 17.8 inches at Bryant Park. Bronx County - 15.9 inches was measured at Parkchester Queens County - from 11 inches at Richmond Hill to 13.1 inches at LaGuardia Airport. At John F. Kennedy Airport, 12.7 inches was measured. Kings County - from 10.0 inches at Downtown Water Street to 10.7 inches at Graves End. Richmond County - 12.0 inches was measured in Staten Island.