Event Summary

An intense area of low pressure over the Eastern Great Lakes on the morning of February 12, tracked northeast and up into the Canadian Maritimes by evening. High winds developed near daybreak, right behind the cold front, and continued through the day. The strongest winds occurred during the morning and appeared to be associated with sharp pressure rises right behind the cold front. There were several thousand power outages across southeast New York, a death of a construction worker, and delays of up to 3 hours at the metropolitan area airports. The death occurred at approximately 0832EST at a construction site in the Rosebank section of Staten Island. High winds knocked down a cinder block wall on top of a 59-year-old male construction worker. The following are some peak wind gusts across southeast New York: Bronx County, Bronx at 59 mph; Kings County, Brooklyn at 65 mph, Queens County, 55 mph at JFK airport and 56 mph at LaGuardia airport. High winds toppled a 50-foot-long, 10-foot-high brick and cinderblock wall into a playground at a vacant school in the East Village. There were no injuries. At 0740EST, a tree fell, injuring a man on Avenue H.