New York City’s Top Snowstorms…

New York City’s greatest snowstorms all have a story…

6. February 16-17, 2003: The Presidents’ Day Blizzard dumped a total of 19.8 inches of snow on the Big Apple. Mayor Michael Bloomberg complained that the snowstorm would cost one million dollars per inch to remove.

5. January 7-8, 1996: New York City kids got their first day off from school in eighteen years as the Blizzard of ‘96 dumped a total of 20.2 inches on Central Park. New Yorkers took the storm in stride, getting around on cross-country skis.

3. (tied) February 25-26, 2010: This week’s storm dumped 20.9 inches of snow at Central Park. One person was killed on Thursday when a snow laden branch fell on a man.

3. (tied) March 12-14, 1888: The White Hurricane. It rained all day in New York City on Sunday, March 11. The forecast called for clearing and colder weather. Overnight, the rain changed to snow and a blizzard began to blow. Winds of up to 80 mph combined with 20.9 inches of snow in a deadly combination. The winds whipped the snow into twenty foot drifts that covered the second floor of some buildings. Two hundred people died in New York City.

2. December 26-27, 1947: Snow began early on the morning of Friday, December 26th. It soon was falling at the rate of three inches per hour. When all was said and done on the morning of the 27th, New York City lay under a mantle of 26.4 inches of snow. The Snow of 1947 is notable because it was accompanied by no wind and relatively mild temperatures, so it was not a killer storm.

1. February 11-12, 2006:The Blizzard of 2006 started on Saturday afternoon at 4:30 p.m. At the height of the snowstorm on Sunday morning, snow was falling on Central Park at the rate of three inches per hour. When it was all said and done, a grand total of 26.9 inches had fallen there. It was enough to make it the greatest single snowstorm in the history of the Big Apple. Thunder snow was reported in New Jersey, with lightning followed by booming thunder. The powerful nor’easter responsible for the snows actually developed an eye as it passed off the New Jersey coast.

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