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November 8, 2012, 10:00 AM ET

Weather Journal: Nor’easter Brought Record Snowfall

By Eric Holthaus

Reuters
A man shovels snow caused by a nor’easter storm, in the Lower East Side neighborhood of Manhattan.

A fierce early season nor’easter is bringing record snowfall to Greater New York, aggravating recovery efforts a little more than a week after superstorm Sandy’s devastating landfall.

As of sunrise, snows had stopped for most of the region except Long Island. Gusty winds, blowing in some cases to 50 mph or more, were also expected to wane throughout the night. Snows and winds were likely to end first in New Jersey and wane throughout the day.

As of late Wednesday night, Central Park had already broken October 2011′s “Snowtober” record for the biggest early season snowfall on record, since at least 1869.

More than four inches had fallen by midnight, with a storm total of 4.7″ officially reported by 7 a.m. Comparably heavy snows (including 4.4 inches on Nov. 23 1989 or a 5 inch total on Nov. 26 189 have only occurred historically in New York City in late November, never this early.

But like last year’s pre-Halloween Snowtober storm, areas north and west of the city were receiving the brunt of the snows. A particularly heavy snowfall band was nearly stationary from Union County, N.J. to Westchester County, N.Y., to parts of western Connecticut. Totals there exceeded a foot by 5 a.m. Thursday. Reports of power outages and treacherous road conditions were common across the region.

The nor’easter’s snowfall was surpassing even top-end projections made by the National Weather Service (and by Weather Journal) on Tuesday, with “dynamic cooling” from the particularly intense nor’easter making conditions more favorable for snow formation.

Fears of a repeat coastal flooding storm surge appeared not to come to pass, as the storm’s track further offshore kept the nor’easter’s biggest waves and water levels from re-afflicting the same areas Sandy damaged. Storm surge values peaked at about 3.5 feet in western Long Island Sound, and about three feet in Lower Manhattan and the New Jersey shore, where tide gauges showed only minor to moderate flooding after the expected highest tide of the storm. The storm’s maximum water levels were four to six feet below record levels seen during Sandy.

Instead of coastal flooding, the storm’s track further offshore brought a renewed blast of cold air, which cause the formation of extra snow. Cold air will linger in the region on Thursday with gusty north winds keeping wind chill values in the 30s for most of the day.
The snows should melt relatively fast in advance of the weekend, where high temperatures could reach as warm as 70 degrees as a significant pattern shift will be underway.

Later on Thursday, I’ll do a region-wide comparison of Sandy’s weather vs. that of the nor’easter.

Thursday’s Greater New York forecast roundup:

• WSJ Headquarters in Manhattan:
• Actual High: 41; High feels like: 35
• Actual Low: 36; Low feels like: 28
• Weather: Nor’easter winds down
• Brooklyn: 42/36
• Queens: 43/38
• Bronx: 42/35
• Staten Island: 45/35
• Poughkeepsie, N.Y.: 46/27
• Trenton, N.J.: 43/31
• Islip, Long Island: 46/33
• New Haven, Conn.: 40/30

Meteorologist Eric Holthaus contributes daily weather reports and analysis on Metropolis. For the latest on conditions in New York and elsewhere, follow his updates (@WSJweather) on Twitter.

Weather Journal: Nor’easter Brought Record Snowfall - Metropolis - WSJ

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