One day after the first major storm of the year left Long Island with over a foot of snow, residents awoke to bitterly cold temperatures and wind chills in the single digits—nothing remotely resembling the 60-degree day earlier in the week.
Friday’s forecast is calling for bone-chilling temperatures in the high 20s and wind chill values in the single digits, along with a chance of light snow—possibly a half-inch—in the evening.
This is probably not the reprieve Long Islanders were hoping for after a blizzard dumped upwards of 16 inches of snow on parts of the region on Thursday. The storm lasted half a day, kicking off at 4 a.m. before finally tapering off around sunset.
How much snow fell?
Commuters taking to the rails Friday morning were met with system-wide delays of up to 15 minutes on the Long Island Rail Road. The railroad blamed the winter storm for the hold up. If the lingering impact of the previous day’s storm wasn’t enough, the LIRR for the second consecutive day cancelled nine morning trains because of Wednesday’s derailment at Jamaica station, which is under investigation.
Meanwhile, many schools on LI remained closed as workers continued the tough slog of cleaning up the mess the storm left behind.
Perhaps the only silver lining from Friday’s storm was officials had early notice that a powerful system was barreling toward the Island, allowing crews to treat roads as they braced for the storm. Yet the deluge—and whiteout conditions—made it difficult at times for crews to clear roads as the storm thundered across LI. At one point, more than two inches of snow was falling per hour, forecasters said.
All day, officials urged drivers to stay clear of the roads to allow plows to do their job.
Aside from the possibility of light snow later in the evening, Long Islanders could expect a mostly dry day Friday.
Forecasters are calling for a 30-percent chance of light snow early Saturday with temperatures kicking up to a high of 45. Sunday could bring rain and temperatures will remain in the 40s.
