Winter Storm — Richmond (staten Is.), New York

2018-01-04 · Richmond (staten Is.), New York

Event narrative

The Public reported 10.8 inches of snow in Great Kills and 10.2 inches of snow in Dongan Hills. Nearby ASOS observations at Newark Liberty International and Kennedy International showed winds frequently gusting 40 to 50 MPH during the peak of the winter storm.

Wider weather episode

The development of the blizzard/winter storm began along the southeast coast on Wednesday January 3, 2018. An amplifying upper level trough spawned the development of low pressure off the coast of Florida. The low pressure rapidly intensified on Wednesday night through Thursday January 4, 2018 as it moved north-northeast along the coast. The low passed just east of the 40N 70W benchmark Thursday afternoon. The central pressure when the storm developed was around 1004 millibars at 1 pm Wednesday. 24 hours later, the central pressure fell to around 950 mb, approximately a 54 millibar drop. The rapid intensification of the storm led to heavy snow, strong winds, and blizzard conditions over Long Island, and in Queens in New York City and the Lower Hudson Valley. Near-blizzard conditions occurred across Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. Thundersnow was also observed across eastern Long Island.

Thousands of flights were cancelled on January 4, 2018 and nearly 900 were cancelled the day after the blizzard. System-wide delays and cancellations occurred on the Long Island Railroad and Metro North Railroad. There were also numerous accidents on across southeast New York. Thousands of homes and businesses also lost power.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 736946. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.