New Yorkers woke up Tuesday with something they had barely seen throughout this winter: snow.
The National Weather Service (NWS) measured 4.6 centimeters of snow in Central Park, by far the highest mark this season.
New York is usually covered in white at least a couple of times this season, but the mild temperatures that have prevailed this winter have so far kept it free of snow.
The flakes, which began Monday night, brought the cumulative total in Manhattan’s famed green lung to just 2.2 inches.
Sleet
However, it did not last long. By midmorning, most of the snow had already turned to sleet, when the rain began to fall.
Several school districts closed Tuesday as the city braced for its first major snowfall of the season.
The city government’s emergency management office issued a warning in effect from 6:00 p.m. local time (2300 GMT) Monday to 1:00 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) Tuesday.
New York tends to get its first major snow cover in mid-December.
Last season it came on Christmas Eve and this year only on February 1, when almost half an inch was recorded in Central Park, the latest record since measurements began in 1869.
Snow storms
Throughout this winter, while New York City and the surrounding Atlantic coastal areas have seen heavy rains, blizzards, some of them deadly, have struck a few hundred miles further north.
At least 39 people were killed when up to a meter of snow fell in Buffalo, New York state, near the Canadian border, in December.
New York City has never gone through an entire cold season without measurable snow. Scientists say climate change is making winters warmer and shorter.
meteorological risks
Meanwhile, a look at the meteorological risks. A storm system spawned at least four tornadoes as it passed through central and northeast Illinois on Monday, including two in suburbs west of Chicago, according to authorities. Preliminary reports suggested that the damage was limited to downed trees or ripped roof tiles from buildings, said Rafal Ogorek, a meteorologist with the NWS’s Chicago office.
At least one person was killed and three others injured after a tornado ripped through a remote area of western Oklahoma near the town of Cheyenne Sunday night, damaging 20 homes and destroying four others, according to Levi Blackketter, Roger Mills County emergency manager.
