Out Like A Lamb

Details.

Boston's Mayor Is Over The Snow

Via USA Today:

More snow fell on Boston on Sunday, enough to make this the snowiest season ever on record there. The National Weather Service said 2.9 inches fell by 7 p.m., pushing total snowfall for the winter of 2014-2015 to 108.6 inches. That is a full inch over the previous record set during the winter of 1995-1996, the service's Boston office tweeted, and the most since record books started in 1872. The achievement brought cheerful, tongue-in-cheek celebration from many of the snow-weary survivors of winter in Boston. "Putting the win in winter!" tweeted Christina Pazzanese. "We got the GOLD!" tweeted WBZ weatherman Barry Burbank.

New York City Winter Umbrella Cam

Taken yesterday afternoon just before everything turned to garbage-strewn piles of black muck.

NYC Sees Coldest February In 81 Years

The weather has been particularly hard on restaurants and nightspots, but has been a boon for all delivery services.

Tweet Of The Day

Winter 2015 in one GIF, everyone. RT @JJDodders: THIS IS IT. THIS IS THE BEST GIF. pic.twitter.com/LHXGhwybuR
— The Weather Channel (@weatherchannel) February 18, 2015

Back To Almost Normal For NYC

Cuomo and De Blasio are making the rounds of local television this morning to defend last night's decision to close down the city. Via Gothamist:

Mayor de Blasio lifted the city-wide travel ban this morning after that devastating blizzard turned out to be just a bunch of stupid snow. There's about 7.8 inches in Central Park this morning—not the 24 inches or more that was expected—and current forecasts don't call for much more additional accumulation today. And there is certainly no reason to doubt those forecasts. The MTA is also resuming service system-wide this morning, but it's going to take hours for trains and buses to get back up to full speed. Staten Island Ferry service has resumed. Asked if officials overreacted to the storm, Cuomo reminded reporters of the huge snowstorm that crippled Buffalo in November—a storm that Cuomo said he underestimated. "You make big decision based on the best information you have," Cuomo said, adding, "I do not criticize weather forecasters."Cuomo also posited that taking the trains out of service and implementing a travel ban enabled the city to bounce back faster, because the roads were clear for plows to get through and trains weren't stranded. "If you tally it up, I don't know that this wasn't the most prudent course," Cuomo said.

Most people still have the day off, of course.

All NYC Mass Transit To Close At 11PM

This includes subways, buses, ferries, PATH, Metro-North, Long Island Railroad, and (perhaps obviously) AirTrain. New Jersey Transit will suspend all rail service until Thursday at 8PM tonight. No re-start time for the MTA has yet been announced. Wherever you are at 11PM, you'll likely be there for 36-48 hours.

UPDATE: Gov. Cuomo has also declared a ban on all non-emergency vehicular traffic beginning at 11PM, warning that those caught on the roads will be ticketed and fined $300.

Viral Video Of The Day

A time lapse of Buffalo weather.

(Tipped by JMG reader Blair)

How To Announce A Snow Day

Gone viral with 175K views this morning.

AGAIN: Ice Storm Batters South

3500 canceled flights so far.

Polar Vortex II

The Weather Channel is calling this one "Janus."  Flight Aware currently reports 2040 canceled flights for today, but that number is expected to go much higher by late afternoon.

Port Authority: Airport Closures Likely

Gotta Get The Bread & Milk

Flight Aware reports that almost 1200 flights have already been canceled in advance of the blizzard which is due to hit much of the northeast today. Thousands of other flights face "significant delays."  Via CNN:

As of Wednesday night, New York City was under a winter storm warning, just like many other densely populated areas in seven other states. The city of 8 million people could get 9 inches of snow, sub-zero wind chills and turbulent winds, forecasters said. The Long Island counties of Nassau and Suffolk will be under a blizzard warning from 6 p.m. Thursday until 1 p.m. Friday, thanks to a forecast including 8 to 10 inches of snow, wind chills as low as 10-below zero and sustained winds of at least 35 mph. Farther upstate, the capital city of Albany could get buried under 14 inches of snow, with frigid wind chills of 15 to 25 below zero, the National Weather Service said. By Friday night, Boston should be covered by 5 to 11 inches of snow -- with freezing temperatures as low as 3 degrees below zero.

Gotta get the bread and milk.

Bread & Milk

(Via JMG reader AJ)

FRIDAY: Winter Storm Nemo

Forecasters are pondering airport and rail closures this weekend as the nor'easter Nemo bears down on New England. (Things sound so much more serious now that winter storms have names.) Anyway, if you've got travel plans, you might want to keep an eye on things.  This hasn't been much of a winter so far around here.

UPDATE: Gawker is mocking the conflicting forecasts with the headline: "NYC Will Get Either 3 Or 30 Inches Of Snow This Weekend."

Winter, Finally

We're finally getting some real winter weather in NYC, with single-digit wind chills predicted for much of the week and the possibility of actual snow.  By this date in 2011, we'd had about 55 inches of snow. So far in the 2012-13 season: 5.1 inches.

Morning View - Upper East Side

Last night's snowstorm took out more trees on the Upper East Side than the hurricane did. There's a chorus of chainsaws echoing up and down my block. We only got a few inches of snow and most of it's gone already.

Morning View - Bad Day For Doormen

Central Park Devastated By Storm

The Central Park Conservancy says that damage from Saturday's storm was the worst in many decades, with at least 1000 trees totally destroyed. Thousands of others were severely damaged and will take many years to recover. Particularly hard hit were the entrances and edges of the park, where winds were highest. The Daily Mail has lots of depressing photos.

Snowtober Breaks All-Time Records

Even NYC's three inches broke a record set during the Civil War.