NEW YORK — New Yorkers spent Sunday digging themselves out from about a foot of snow that pummeled the city over the weekend.
Snowfall ranged from 7.5 inches in Midtown to 13.1 inches in Bayside, Queens, according to the National Weather Service. Long Island got hit much harder, with some neighborhoods seeing about 2 feet of snowfall. There were four storm-related deaths there, including men who collapsed while shoveling snow.
Extra support in the form of plows was going to the hardest-hit areas, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday, sounding an upbeat note overall.
“Cleanup is going great,” she told NY1. “And I want to commend, first of all, New Yorkers for heeding our warning about staying off the roads. That allowed our crews to be out there salting before the snow fell, as well as doing the plowing that was necessary.”
The weather didn’t cause any MTA service disruptions, she added, calling that “really quite incredible” for the system.
It was a different story at airports on the East Coast, where thousands of flights were canceled.
“There’s still a lot of cancellations. That is a result of the fact that a lot of planes couldn’t come in over the weekend,” Hochul said. “Keep checking in and I’m sure that service will be restored as soon as possible.”
Winter storm Kenan put total snowfall for the month to date at 15.3 inches for New York City, according to the National Weather Service. That compares to an average of 8 inches of snowfall for Jan. 1-29.
“It’s likely that we’re going to end up, for the month of January, about 6.5 inches above normal,” said NWS meteorologist James Tomasini.
Many New Yorkers chose to weather the nor’easter from the comfort of their homes — just as they have stayed off the streets through the alarming holiday surge in coronavirus cases.
“Please continue to support our restaurants and Broadway and all of our cultural attractions, because there is a smart way to do it,” Hochul said.
“You have any symptoms, stay home,” she continued. “Do you have any concerns? Get a test kit. Otherwise, if you’re vaccinated and boosted and masked up, there’s no reason not to get out there.”
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