Winter Weather — Northern Herkimer, New York

2023-02-02 · Northern Herkimer, New York

Event narrative

Snow squall. Mesonet webcams showed near-zero visibilities with observed wind gusts between 25 and 40 mph.

Wider weather episode

A brief but powerful Arctic airmass moved across the region on February 3-4, 2023 which brought dangerously low wind chill values to much of the region along with strong wind gusts. An Arctic cold front passed across the region during the evening hours on February 2 accompanied by snow showers and snow squalls. Snow squalls were confined only to the Adirondacks. Thereafter, very cold air gradually advected into the region on February 3 into the morning hours on February 4.

Air temperatures gradually fell throughout the day on February 3 with readings down to the single digits above zero to 10 to 20 below zero by the late-afternoon hours. Many locations dropped to between 10 and 25 degrees below zero with a few pockets in the Adirondacks nearing 40 below zero by the early morning hours on February 4. Portions of the mid-Hudson Valley only fell to between 5 and 10 degrees below zero. On February 4, a record low temperature of -13F was tied at Albany while a record low temperature of -24F was set at Glens Falls. Poughkeepsie was short of their daily record low of -10F by only falling to -7F.

In addition to the cold, this Arctic air mass brought strong winds across the region during the daytime hours on February 3 into the overnight hours before easing on February 4. Peak gusts between 35 and 50 mph were common across most areas. A few localized areas had a peak wind gust greater than 50 mph. A few downed trees and power lines occurred which resulted in a few power outages. The area with the highest amount of power outages was in Ulster County.

The combination of very cold air and strong winds resulted in wind chill values much lower than the actual air temperature. The lowest wind chills ranged from 20 below zero across portions of the mid-Hudson Valley to near 50 below zero across portions of the Adirondacks. For many, the last time it was this cold was back in February 2016.

Warming centers opened areawide to offer assistance for those that needed shelter from the cold. Some area schools closed or were delayed as a result of the cold.

Key impacts: damage to trees and power lines, power outages, school delays and closings.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1081194. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.