Weather

New York Gets Biggest Snowfall of Unusually Mild Winter

New Yorkers woke Tuesday to something they have barely seen this winter: snow.

The National Weather Service (NWS) measured 1.8 inches (4.6 centimeters) of snowfall in Central Park, the first time more than an inch had been recorded there all season.

New York usually gets blanketed white at least a couple of times each winter. But unusually mild temperatures have led to a largely snow-free season this year.

The flakes, which began Monday evening, brought the seasonal total in Manhattan’s famous green lung to just 2.2 inches.

It didn’t hang around long, however. By mid-morning most of the snow had already turned to slush as rain took over.

Several school districts closed Tuesday as the city geared up for its first substantial snowfall of the season.

The New York City government’s emergency management office also issued a travel advisory from 6:00 pm (2300 GMT) Monday to 1:00 pm Tuesday.

New York tends to get its first serious dusting of snow around mid-December. Last season it arrived on Christmas Eve.

This year it arrived only on February 1, when nearly half an inch was recorded in Central Park. It was the latest first snowfall since records began in 1869.

Meteorologists define snowfall in NYC as snow that measures at least 0.1 inches in the park.

While heavy precipitation has meant lots of rain in New York City and surrounding Atlantic coastal areas this winter, deadly snowstorms have occurred a few hundred miles north.

At least 39 people were killed when up to 40 inches (one meter) of snow fell in Buffalo, New York state, near the Canadian border, in December.

New York City has never gone a whole cold season without measurable snow.

Scientists say climate change is causing winters to be warmer and shorter.

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Heavy Snow Hits Parts of Southern California

By Huw Griffith

Heavy snow fell in southern California on Friday, as the first blizzard in a generation pounded the hills around Los Angeles, with heavy rains threatening flooding in other places.

Breathless television weather presenters more used to delivering a same-every-day forecast of warm sunshine found themselves knee-deep in the white stuff as the region grappled with its worst winter storm for decades.

Major roads were closed as ice and snow made them impassable, including sections of Interstate 5, the main north-south highway that connects Mexico, California, the Pacific Northwest and Canada.

Authorities said there was no estimate when it would be reopened.

“Dangerous and potentially life-threatening snow related impacts are likely for mountain, desert, and foothill roadways in southern California,” the National Weather Service (NWS) said.

“Multiple rounds of heavy snowfall coupled with strong winds will lead to blizzard conditions over some of the higher terrain and mountain passes.

“Areas very close to the Pacific Coast and also into the interior valleys that are not accustomed to seeing snow, may see some accumulating snowfall.”

Snow and high winds brought down power lines, knocking out the lights for over 100,000 customers in California, according to poweroutage.us.

Television stations dispatched their presenters to mountain areas, where some reported on traffic misery and others chatted with gleeful children given the day off school.

Social media platforms were inundated with pictures of varying amounts of snow in gardens in higher elevation areas, as residents marveled at the winter weather.

Even the Hollywood sign appeared to be trying to muscle in on the action, with Jeff Zarrinnam of the Hollywood Sign Trust snapping a picture of a snowball he made at his nearby house.

“I’ve seen everything,” he told the Los Angeles Times, but “it was quite a surprise” to find snow this low.

Meteorologists were divided over whether it was technically “snow” and the NWS offered a Twitter tutorial for Californians struggling to put a name to the unusual white stuff spoiling the view of palm trees.

“Wondering what kind of frozen precipitation is falling from the sky in your area (assuming you are at a higher elevation)? Here is an informative graphic… that distinguishes between graupel and hail,” NWS Los Angeles tweeted.

Hail (“hard & solid”) is “frozen raindrops of ice from thunderstorms,” while graupel (“soft & wet”) is “snowflakes that collect supercooled water droplets on the outer surface,” the agency informed readers.

Daniel Swain, a meteorologist at UCLA said a warming climate — caused by humanity’s unchecked burning of fossil fuels in the industrial age — had changed the nature of winter precipitation in the area.

He said last century, many more places might have seen snow in a storm event like this.

“Back in the 1940s there’s records of heavy snowfall in the city of LA and of course that seems almost unthinkable today,” he said.

“The reality is that the fact that the climate is several degrees warmer in California than it used to be makes low (elevation) snow events less likely.”

– Flash flooding –

For people at those lower elevations, heavy rain on Friday was sparking warnings of inundations and landslides.

A flood watch was in place for portions of Ventura, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara Counties where up to an inch (2.5 centimeters) of rain was expected in an hour.

“Increased threat of flash flooding/rockslides,” the NWS said.

“Expect potential for very heavy rain, road flooding, small hail, & gusty winds. Ocean waterspouts & land-based tornadoes are possible.”

Winter weather was also making life difficult in other parts of the West, with roads closed in Wyoming, and Oregon reporting near-record snow.

“Portland experienced its second snowiest day ever recorded (on Thursday) with 10.8 inches of snow,” the NWS bureau in the city said.

The heavy weather continued to snarl flights after several days of misery for air travelers.

More than 370 flights into, out of or around the United States had been canceled by 2300 GMT Friday, with almost 6,000 more delayed.

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