NYC/PHL Dec 26-27 Boxing Day Blizzard Part 10

[jm1220]

The latest analysis has it all the way down to 961 mb now.

I live in a neighborhood where all the houses are really close together here down by the beach

so I don't have a good spot to measure.Many of the drifts around my house are around 3 feet high

or so.Some spots around here where the winds were blowing around the condos and apartment

buildings have drifts to around 5 feet high.The condo owners contracted guys with small bulldozers

to begin clearing the snow.I spent the morning taking pictures and am going out later in the

afternoon to get some shots from down around the boardwalk.I haven't worked the exposure

compensation dial so hard since I got the camera due to the challenge of getting the exposures

correct with all the snow.

Kind of the same deal here. I live on West Fulton where it's a little more protected but still insane drifting in spots. I think we exceeded what we received last 12/19. It's going to take almost the entire rest of the day to unbury my car. Took 2 hours to get the driveway open and shovel the sidewalk/front of the house. Snow is still blowing around like crazy.

[Manny]

Woke up with 20 inches in the City, just another incredibly dynamic storm, but this has to top them all (the ones I've lived through). Just pounding winds, with pounding (thunder)snow and total chaos in the streets. Promise to post some vids from last night.

It was a pleasure.

[Amped]

It is la nina-- 1916-17 style

If it becomes weak, maybe more like 1966-67 or 1995-96 lol

The analogs are looking good for another KU event and NYC should get over 30 inches of snowfall this winter. Personally, Im going for 40"

I doubt blocking can be persistent as it was been without producing at least one major event per month.

[rossi]

anybody look at Euro for next week?

Rossi

[am19psu]

anybody look at Euro for next week?

Rossi

The 12z is only out to 174. What feature are you interested in?

[rossi]

The 12z is only out to 174. What feature are you interested in?

Is it going cold again and any storms on the horizon?

Thanks,

Rossi

[am19psu]

Is it going cold again and any storms on the horizon?

Thanks,

Rossi

Yes; no.

[NorEaster27]

What a storm...last night was just insane. Have about 20 inches here in southern queens, but its really impossible to measure. I cant find a spot that wasnt affected by the winds.

[SnoSki14]

Well that was a great storm, the winds were incredible and the drifts several feet high. It was hard to measure but I averaged about 23.5" although over 2 feet was estimated around my area.

[eduggs]

15-18 inches across Philipstown in western Putnam County. This makes about the 10th storm in 25 years that dropped between 15 and 20 inches but did not eclipse the 20 inch threshold - at least in the lower elevations near the Hudson River. This storm probably just cracks the Top 10 overall in that period (below that for higher elevations). This was an excellent storm for the snowfall intensity, powdery snow quality, and NO MIXING!

For a comparison, this about matched the snowfall accumulations of last February's retrograde storm near the River. At 500 feet this was about 70% of the total accumulation of last year's storm, and above 1000ft about 50%. But the impact from this storm was much less, with minimal damage and disruption compared to extensive damage last year. Western and central Putnam county are underrepresented in snowfall reports, especially compared to neighboring Orange County. Few people realize Fahnestock State Park received 4" of surprise snowfall this past Dec. 13 and well over 30" in last February's storm. The situation is the opposite of parts of Orange County where reports are dense and sometimes over-exaggerated.

[jm1220]

This is a friend of mine's FB status:

"Long Beach, NY - Even though I removed snow from blocking my front door through the night as best I could, I woke up to 3-4 foot snow drifts blocking every exit from my home. About a half hour ago I lowered the sliding window on my front storm door, I literally hung out the window, & flailed my arms, shouting to anyone passing by. A neighbor was using his snow blower but couldn't hear me shouting. He finally saw me hanging out the door with my arms all over the place, I had to pass my snow shovel out the opened window, & he dug out a space in front of my door! Holy Cow!"

[Thundersnow12]

This is an amazing timelapse of the blizzard!

http://vimeo.com/18213768

[Wxnyc]

New York - State Senator Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) is calling on the City Council’s sanitation committee to hold emergency hearings to address the city’s “colossal failure” in responding to the blizzard of 2010, which has left main thoroughfares in Brooklyn and other boroughs impassible and “put countless lives at risk” due to EMS delays.

    Sen. Kruger is asking Council Sanitation Chair Letitia James to take “immediate action” following today’s “highly disturbing” news that FDNY EMS is on a three-hour delay for critical cases, like heart attacks, and a 12-hour delay for non-critical cases because fire trucks and ambulances can’t get through the streets.

    “At 1 p.m. today there was already a backlog of 1,300 critical calls.

How many people are going to die today because our streets haven’t been cleared?” Sen. Kruger asked.

    In the senator’s southern Brooklyn district, the main streets had yet to be cleared by the middle of Monday afternoon. Sen. Kruger noted that this is more than a simple inconvenience in neighborhoods like Mill Island, Bergen Beach, Manhattan Beach and Gerritsen Beach, which have only one primary means of entrance and exit.

    “When the one street leading into and out of your neighborhood isn’t cleared, like East 66th Street in Mill Basin, that means you’re trapped—and God help you in the event of an emergency,” he said.

    The streets around Beth Israel Medical Center’s Kings Highway Division are also impossible to navigate, he said. At 2 p.m. today, a stuck bus was blocking the major thoroughfare of Kings Highway entirely, just blocks from two hospitals, Beth Israel and Community. That eliminated the only road for vehicles to travel.  “When emergency patients have to be transported to the hospital on foot in New York City, you know you’ve got a problem. This is not a MASH unit in the Korean War,” he said.

    Sen. Kruger compared the current situation to the “Lindsay debacle” when the city ground to a halt due to Mayor John Lindsay’s slow response to the blizzard of Feb. 1969. He said the city’s Office of Emergency Management was “foolish” in denying the FDNY’s request that a state of emergency be declared. “This is an outrage,” Sen. Kruger said. “Forecasters predicted this blizzard days in advance. There was clearly insufficient planning, and New Yorkers are paying too steep a price. Someone has to be accountable.”

Assemblyman Dov Hikind released the following statement:

Mr. Mayor, where are you? Never before have there been such a dismal response to snow removal   “Mr. Mayor, where are you?” asked Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) regarding the lack of response in clearing the streets after yesterday’s storm. “Most main streets have not been plowed once, “ said Hikind. “There has never before been such a dismal response to snow removal in the city of New York.”

Council-member Levin released the following statement.

Councilmember Levin expresses his disappointment and outrage over the city’s poor response to yesterday’s snow storm. “I am outraged at the lack of response in the neighborhoods which I represent-Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg.  It is unacceptable that, a full day after the storm, major avenues throughout my district have yet to see a snow plow.  I commend all the DSNY, FDNY, and NYPD workers giving their all out in the snow today, and we are all grateful for their work, but they have not been given enough resources.  Clearly, City Hall and the leadership at the Sanitation Department were entirely unprepared for a storm of this magnitude, and we are all paying the price for that now,” said Councilmember Levin.

“Nobody expects that every side street will be plowed within a day-we are all realistic.  However, from Nassau Avenue in Greenpoint to 4th Avenue in Park Slope, major arteries are impassable.  This is not only an inconvenience for residents, but it is downright dangerous if emergency vehicles cannot even get down a major avenue.  Simply put, this isn’t the worst storm we’ve ever had, but it seems to be the worst response to any major storm in recent memory,” Councilmember Levin continued  

Councilmember Levin represents the neighborhoods of Park Slope, Gowanus, Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Vinegar Hill, DUMBO, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint, all of which have yet to have their major streets plowed.

Statement from Council Members David G. Greenfield Council Members David G. Greenfield, Stephen Levin and Jimmy Van Bramer are outraged at the City’s gross mishandling of its blizzard response and are calling on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to accept full responsibility for the consequences, including endangering the lives of countless New Yorkers waiting for emergency response vehicles hindered by deplorable street conditions.

Councilman Greenfield, who represents the Bensonhurst, Boro Park and Midwood sections of Brooklyn, was shocked at the conditions as he walked the streets of his district this afternoon.  “I’ve lived here my entire life,” said Greenfield, “and I’ve never seen the streets this way after a major snowstorm.  Here in the outer-boroughs we are used to being the step-children of Manhattan and waiting for available plows, but there are major streets in my district that haven’t see a plow at all.  Quite frankly, I’ve never seen such a wholesale failure of government to provide basic services.”

Councilman Van Bramer, who represents Woodside, Sunnyside, Long Island City, Astoria, and Maspeth in Queens, echoed Councilman Greenfield’s sentiment.  “I have lived my entire life in Queens, seen many storms, but have never seen so long a period go by where we just haven’t seen snow plows clearing the streets,” noted Van Bramer.  “More than 24 hours after the first snowflakes fell, there are still major roadways in my district that have yet to be plowed.  Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City is just one example of a poor response to this storm by this administration.  The hardworking people of my district and the entire City deserve better service.” 

The Council Members attribute the extremely hazardous conditions to Mayor Bloomberg’s personnel reductions at the Department of Sanitation, which left the Department short 400 sanitation workers. 

“I am outraged at the lack of response in the neighborhoods which I represent,” said Councilman Levin, who represents Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg.  “It is unacceptable that, a full day after the storm, major avenues throughout my district have yet to see a snow plow.  I commend all the DSNY, FDNY, and NYPD workers giving their all out in the snow today, and we are all grateful for their work, but they have not been given enough resources.  Clearly, City Hall and the leadership at the Sanitation Department were entirely unprepared for a storm of this magnitude, and we are all paying the price for that now.”

All three Council Members expressed their gratitude to the outstanding men and women of the Sanitation Department, NYPD, NYFD and OEM, noting how they selflessly left their own families to serve their communities in extremely hazardous conditions.  Unfortunately, their superiors were clearly unprepared for this storm, and left all New Yorkers in a ditch.

News Source: Press Release

[bluewave]

Kind of the same deal here. I live on West Fulton where it's a little more protected but still insane drifting in spots. I think we exceeded what we received last 12/19. It's going to take almost the entire rest of the day to unbury my car. Took 2 hours to get the driveway open and shovel the sidewalk/front of the house. Snow is still blowing around like crazy.

It took me over an hour just to clear my patio and dig a path out to the street.

Last night I had to keep going outside to clean the snow off my picture

window so I could watch the storm.

[Sock Puppet]

What NYers ought to do is get some trucks together and cover city hall with snow. Abandoned cars are still all over the place since the streets are impassable

[KEITH L.I]

New York - State Senator Carl Kruger (D-Brooklyn) is calling on the City Council’s sanitation committee to hold emergency hearings to address the city’s “colossal failure” in responding to the blizzard of 2010, which has left main thoroughfares in Brooklyn and other boroughs impassible and “put countless lives at risk” due to EMS delays.

Sen. Kruger is asking Council Sanitation Chair Letitia James to take “immediate action” following today’s “highly disturbing” news that FDNY EMS is on a three-hour delay for critical cases, like heart attacks, and a 12-hour delay for non-critical cases because fire trucks and ambulances can’t get through the streets.

“At 1 p.m. today there was already a backlog of 1,300 critical calls.

How many people are going to die today because our streets haven’t been cleared?” Sen. Kruger asked.

In the senator’s southern Brooklyn district, the main streets had yet to be cleared by the middle of Monday afternoon. Sen. Kruger noted that this is more than a simple inconvenience in neighborhoods like Mill Island, Bergen Beach, Manhattan Beach and Gerritsen Beach, which have only one primary means of entrance and exit.

“When the one street leading into and out of your neighborhood isn’t cleared, like East 66th Street in Mill Basin, that means you’re trapped—and God help you in the event of an emergency,” he said.

The streets around Beth Israel Medical Center’s Kings Highway Division are also impossible to navigate, he said. At 2 p.m. today, a stuck bus was blocking the major thoroughfare of Kings Highway entirely, just blocks from two hospitals, Beth Israel and Community. That eliminated the only road for vehicles to travel. “When emergency patients have to be transported to the hospital on foot in New York City, you know you’ve got a problem. This is not a MASH unit in the Korean War,” he said.

Sen. Kruger compared the current situation to the “Lindsay debacle” when the city ground to a halt due to Mayor John Lindsay’s slow response to the blizzard of Feb. 1969. He said the city’s Office of Emergency Management was “foolish” in denying the FDNY’s request that a state of emergency be declared. “This is an outrage,” Sen. Kruger said. “Forecasters predicted this blizzard days in advance. There was clearly insufficient planning, and New Yorkers are paying too steep a price. Someone has to be accountable.”

Assemblyman Dov Hikind released the following statement:

Mr. Mayor, where are you? Never before have there been such a dismal response to snow removal “Mr. Mayor, where are you?” asked Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) regarding the lack of response in clearing the streets after yesterday’s storm. “Most main streets have not been plowed once, “ said Hikind. “There has never before been such a dismal response to snow removal in the city of New York.”

Council-member Levin released the following statement.

Councilmember Levin expresses his disappointment and outrage over the city’s poor response to yesterday’s snow storm. “I am outraged at the lack of response in the neighborhoods which I represent-Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg. It is unacceptable that, a full day after the storm, major avenues throughout my district have yet to see a snow plow. I commend all the DSNY, FDNY, and NYPD workers giving their all out in the snow today, and we are all grateful for their work, but they have not been given enough resources. Clearly, City Hall and the leadership at the Sanitation Department were entirely unprepared for a storm of this magnitude, and we are all paying the price for that now,” said Councilmember Levin.

“Nobody expects that every side street will be plowed within a day-we are all realistic. However, from Nassau Avenue in Greenpoint to 4th Avenue in Park Slope, major arteries are impassable. This is not only an inconvenience for residents, but it is downright dangerous if emergency vehicles cannot even get down a major avenue. Simply put, this isn’t the worst storm we’ve ever had, but it seems to be the worst response to any major storm in recent memory,” Councilmember Levin continued

Councilmember Levin represents the neighborhoods of Park Slope, Gowanus, Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Vinegar Hill, DUMBO, Williamsburg, and Greenpoint, all of which have yet to have their major streets plowed.

Statement from Council Members David G. Greenfield Council Members David G. Greenfield, Stephen Levin and Jimmy Van Bramer are outraged at the City’s gross mishandling of its blizzard response and are calling on Mayor Michael Bloomberg to accept full responsibility for the consequences, including endangering the lives of countless New Yorkers waiting for emergency response vehicles hindered by deplorable street conditions.

Councilman Greenfield, who represents the Bensonhurst, Boro Park and Midwood sections of Brooklyn, was shocked at the conditions as he walked the streets of his district this afternoon. “I’ve lived here my entire life,” said Greenfield, “and I’ve never seen the streets this way after a major snowstorm. Here in the outer-boroughs we are used to being the step-children of Manhattan and waiting for available plows, but there are major streets in my district that haven’t see a plow at all. Quite frankly, I’ve never seen such a wholesale failure of government to provide basic services.”

Councilman Van Bramer, who represents Woodside, Sunnyside, Long Island City, Astoria, and Maspeth in Queens, echoed Councilman Greenfield’s sentiment. “I have lived my entire life in Queens, seen many storms, but have never seen so long a period go by where we just haven’t seen snow plows clearing the streets,” noted Van Bramer. “More than 24 hours after the first snowflakes fell, there are still major roadways in my district that have yet to be plowed. Vernon Boulevard in Long Island City is just one example of a poor response to this storm by this administration. The hardworking people of my district and the entire City deserve better service.”

The Council Members attribute the extremely hazardous conditions to Mayor Bloomberg’s personnel reductions at the Department of Sanitation, which left the Department short 400 sanitation workers.

“I am outraged at the lack of response in the neighborhoods which I represent,” said Councilman Levin, who represents Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Greenpoint, and Williamsburg. “It is unacceptable that, a full day after the storm, major avenues throughout my district have yet to see a snow plow. I commend all the DSNY, FDNY, and NYPD workers giving their all out in the snow today, and we are all grateful for their work, but they have not been given enough resources. Clearly, City Hall and the leadership at the Sanitation Department were entirely unprepared for a storm of this magnitude, and we are all paying the price for that now.”

All three Council Members expressed their gratitude to the outstanding men and women of the Sanitation Department, NYPD, NYFD and OEM, noting how they selflessly left their own families to serve their communities in extremely hazardous conditions. Unfortunately, their superiors were clearly unprepared for this storm, and left all New Yorkers in a ditch.

News Source: Press Release

uh oh..the Bloomburg Blizzard

[Thunder Road]

I see this blizzard provided us with some lols as well...

[ict1523]

What NYers ought to do is get some trucks together and cover city hall with snow. Abandoned cars are still all over the place since the streets are impassable

Absolute terrible response to the storm. I have never seen so much public transportation paralyzed by a snowstorm. Every subway line had severe delays or partial suspensions. At one point over 1,000 MTA buses were stuck in the snow. Major roads were impassable, not just side streets. I know the snow came down heavily and drifting was a problem, but I didn't even see plows. There are storms when I hear them coming every half hour and I saw one plow yesterday. That's it. My road was one of the few that weren't even salted prior to the storm, not that it would have helped much.

[simpsonsbuff]

Absolute terrible response to the storm. I have never seen so much public transportation paralyzed by a snowstorm. Every subway line had severe delays or partial suspensions. At one point over 1,000 MTA buses were stuck in the snow. Major roads were impassable, not just side streets. I know the snow came down heavily and drifting was a problem, but I didn't even see plows. There are storms when I hear them coming every half hour and I saw one plow yesterday. That's it. My road was one of the few that weren't even salted prior to the storm, not that it would have helped much.

I wonder if the short lead up time to potentially big snows is what is partially responsible? Most forecasts were fine at the end, but before then they were low. IDK, but side streets were quite atrocious.

[ict1523]

I wonder if the short lead up time to potentially big snows is what is partially responsible? Most forecasts were fine at the end, but before then they were low. IDK, but side streets were quite atrocious.

I'm sure it played a factor, but quite honestly, still not a good enough excuse. The fact that 911 had 3 hour response delays is simply unthinkable in such a large city.

[forkyfork]

low state budgets

terrible timing (after a holiday which wastes lead time)

very cold temperatures

strong winds

[ARyan]

Doug when you wake up, make sure you submit your total because the new PNS's last update for Rockville Centre is from 11 PM last night!

http://www.erh.noaa..../okx/report.php

Yeah. That was because I only have a 12" ruler...and I went to sleep.

[NickD2011]

New York City's response to this blizzard is about as bad as our response to New Orleans after Katrina. NYC is used to blizzards and has the equipment to keep the roads clear the entire storm. They've done well in the past, such as keeping school open the day after the 2006 blizzard which dumped 2 feet of snow.

[danstorm]

Where in BK?

Just went out to shovel this stuff a very uniform 2 feet drifts up to 4 feet Brooklyn.

Hourly obs:

Snow begun around 10am

12pm 1/2-1 inch

2pm. 2 Inches

4pm. 3 inches

6pm. 7 inches

8pm. 12 inches

10pm. 16inches

12am. 19 inches

2am. 21inches

4am. 24 inches

I measured in a pretty protected area took a few measurements so this is approximate don't shoot me over it.

10pm.

[ARyan]

New York City's response to this blizzard is about as bad as our response to New Orleans after Katrina. NYC is used to blizzards and has the equipment to keep the roads clear the entire storm. They've done well in the past, such as keeping school open the day after the 2006 blizzard which dumped 2 feet of snow.

Unplowed streets =/= hundreds of people dying.

[cjr231]

My block is still not plowed. Im going to miss work tomorrow if they don't do it before tomorrow morning.

[Nikolai]

Does anyone know whether the babylon line of the LIRR is running? My friend is supposed to meet me at penn tomorrow at 830am and their site says just delayed.

[ARyan]

Does anyone know whether the babylon line of the LIRR is running? My friend is supposed to meet me at penn tomorrow at 830am and their site says just delayed.

It is now. Half hourly service in the morning, according to their site.

[jm1220]

Long Beach branch still appears to be down.

[Euripides]

Does anyone know whether the babylon line of the LIRR is running? My friend is supposed to meet me at penn tomorrow at 830am and their site says just delayed.

LIRR Babylon line will start running trains every half hour starting at 6am tomorrow morning.

Expect delays....would not be surprised if a few trains break down causing even more issues