Thanks to Winter Storm Hernando
In the days preceding the weekend of Hernando, the name of February 22/23’s storm, it was estimated that NYC would get maybe a foot of snow and the brunt would hit New England. On Sunday morning the storm’s trajectory changed and it appeared that NYC would get nearly twice that.
Around midday on Sunday, February 22, Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared a local state of emergency ahead of the snowstorm. This meant city streets would be closed to non-essential vehicular traffic from 9 p.m. Sunday to 12 p.m. Monday. He also announced that all New York City Public School buildings, except those operating as warming centers, would be closed on Monday, Feb. 23. School kids would get a traditional snow day.
As Sunday progressed into early evening, the snow had just started to cast a thin layer on sidewalks, despite it snowing for hours before. Around 9 p.m. the accumulation in Williamsburg, Brooklyn was nearing one foot. I have relatives in Maine who measure this by a bag of bread, at that time it would have covered a bit more than half a loaf. A few on my street shoveled some, but that would become undetectable once the overnight snowfall had its way.
The streets were quiet on my corner, and the only vehicles that could be heard were the snow plows and one police car.
At around 12:30 p.m. on Monday, February 23, non-essential drivers were still off the streets, but a little later a few began to infrequently emerge on Bedford Avenue.
Some retail on Bedford was closed, but grocery stores were open.
As more folks ventured out, some faces flashed smiles of wonder. The beauty of fresh snow doesn’t last long. The snow from the last snow storm weeks ago that had turned into dirty grey glaciers had finally all but melted away when Hernando arrived, due to frigid below freezing temperatures delaying a thaw. Hernando’s snow is predicted to melt away by the upcoming weekend, even though more snow is in the forecast.
As of early afternoon on Monday, 16 to 19 inches of snow was measured in most parts of the city. By 12:30 p.m., the Department of Sanitation spread roughly 50 million pounds of salt and plowed over 99.5% of city streets at least once. Mamdani said schools would be open February 24. Updates on the City’s plowing efforts can be tracked at PlowNYC, bookmark that for future snow days.
The Greenline 