Record Breaking Snow Storm in New York and New Jersey

February 26 was a big celebration for the 1.1 million kids attending New York public schools as the mayor announced the second snow day of the month, but as the parks got crowded with children making snow angels, crews worked hard to restore electricity to the thousands of households without power. Snow ploughs constantly cleared streets and avenues and many spent their morning shoveling snow and digging out their cars from foot high moulds of icy snow.

Though New York City's 21-inch snowfall fell a few inches short of the record breaking 26 inches set in February of 2006, the cumulative 36.9 inches of February 2010 broke the all time record set in March 1896.

Many took out their cameras and went for a stroll in Central Park this weekend. The snow blanket in Central Park was so thick that people went for an unexpected cross country ski in the heart of the city. Snow men of many shapes and sizes dotted the sides of the freshly cleaned pathways and sheep's meadow became a winter wonderland for tourists and New Yorkers.

Yet the picture was not that rosy for the more than 700,000 customers without power and the air passengers of the 2344 flights who were grounded because of this storm. On February 27 ConEd spokesman Bob McGee said 34,821 customers were still without power in New York's Westchester County, and more than 1,250 in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx had none.

Bloomberg.com reports the death of Elmaz Qyra, a 46 year old Albanian living in Brooklyn, who was hit by a falling 20 foot tree branch in Central park and the death of another two people who died in car accidents on slick roads in the New York area.

New Jersey was also heavily affected by the storm. Local media reported a 10 mile line of cars stuck on the I-84. Some of the passengers had to spend the night in their cars as trailers got stuck in the high snow and the troopers had to bring in special equipment to haul the trailers out of the way.

Katya Brennan, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Safety said New Hampshire, one of the regions hit by the hardest high winds, had more than 275,500 customers still without electricity, the day after the storm.

In Newark New Jersey, the blizzard was so powerful, it set daily records for both rain and snowfall and 90-mph wind was recorded by the weather service buoy in the Atlantic.

Ossining in Westchester Country NY reported 25 inches of snow, while thirty-two inches were measured in Monroe, New York, in Orange County. Goshen and Tuxedo reported over 29 inches. In New Jersey, the town of Tenafly in Bergen County had 21 inches while Fort Lee had 20, the National Weather Service said.

Works citied

Personal Experience

"New York city, rest of northeast cleans up; flights resume" by Dan Hart and Brian Sullivan Bloomberg.com

"Snow blankets city... again; Mayor caves, gives students rare snow day" by Christina Boyle NYDailyNews.com

"Storm dumps 20 inches on city making February snowiest month since 1869" by Matt Lysiak and Christina Boyle NYDailyNews.com

"Tears for Brooklyn dad killed by Central Park tree" by Erika Pearson and Rich Schapiro NYDailyNews.com