Winter Storm in New York, December 30 to 31, 2000

Energy from a strong upper level disturbance, diving southeast from the northern Plains into the Ohio Valley, developed a coastal area of low pressure off the DelMarVa pennisula by early Saturday December 30. This low deepened while tracking almost due northward...about 50 miles east of the coastline. The storm reached central Long Island by mid afternoon and interior southern New England by the evening hours. The low then tracked more to the northeast near the I-95 Corridor and slid off the coastline near Boston by early Sunday December 31. With plenty of cold air in place, this storm brought a significant snowstorm to all of eastern New York. The snow began during the early morning hours across southeastern New York, then spread quickly across the remander of eastern New York by midday. Snow fell at the rate of 2-3 inches per hour at times during the midday and early afternoon hours. For the fifth time in 2000, an official daily snowfall record was broken as 10.2 inches fell on the 30th. The storm total at Albany International Airport was 12.6 inches. A snowfall swath of 8-16 inches fell across most of eastern New York. However, over two feet fell across a portion of the Catskills. Platte Cove in Greene county had the heaviest amount with 28.9 inches. East Jewett was close behind with 26. Since the storm hit during a holiday weekend its impact was minimized. Some businesses were forced to close early on Saturday. While Albany International airport never closed, there were as many as 50 cancellations of flights reported. There were numerous traffic accidents, but no major injuries were reported to the National Weather Service. There was some blowing and minor drifting with the snow, especially in outlying regions.