Blizzard — Northeast Suffolk, New York

2013-02-08 to 2013-02-09 · Northeast Suffolk, New York

Event narrative

Nearby ASOS observations indicate that blizzard conditions were met for at least 3 consecutive hours. Snow began at 12:45 pm on February 8. Spotters reported an average snowfall of 6 inches by 6:10 pm. Total snowfall ranged from 12.9 inches at Mattituck to 30.9 inches at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton NY. The snowfall at BNL/Upton set an all-time event total snowfall for that location.

Precipitation changed from rain to very heavy snow from north to south in the afternoon. The snow accumulated at rates up to 6 inches per hour at the height of the blizzard, accompanied by lightning, thunder, and even small hail. The very heavy snow also stranded numerous motor vehicles.

Winds gusted up to 75 mph near Plum Island. Non-thunderstorm winds downed a tree in Calverton at 02/08/2013 2121 LST, and large tree limbs in Upton at 02/08/2013 2200 LST.

Wider weather episode

Low pressure that formed along the northern Gulf coast by the morning of Thursday, February 7, 2013 moved northeast to near Cape Hatteras by the morning of Friday, February 8, 2013 . The low then rapidly intensified while moving northeast to a position east of Cape Cod by the morning of Saturday, February 9, 2013, producing very heavy snowfall and blizzard conditions across central and eastern Long Island on February 8th and 9th, and winter storm conditions across the rest of southeast New York.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 436909. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.