New York, 2001

Winter Storm in New York, February 5 to 6, 2001

February 5 to 6, 2001 · NWS ALY · 19 events in 19 counties and zones

Two areas of low pressure, one centered over the Ohio valley and the other in Florida, merged into one storm off the North Carolina coast by early Feburary 5th. This potent storm further intensified as it moved up the eastern seaboard to become the season's second major nor'easter.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 19 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
19

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS ALY wrote it up.

Two areas of low pressure, one centered over the Ohio valley and the other in Florida, merged into one storm off the North Carolina coast by early Feburary 5th. This potent storm further intensified as it moved up the eastern seaboard to become the season's second major nor'easter. The air was cold enough for most of the precipitation to fall as snow with this storm, though a little sleet did mix in across the Mid Hudson Valley. A swath of heavy snowfall, accumulating 7 inches or more, fell across much of eastern New York. A stripe of very heavy snow fell across portions of the Mid Hudson Valley and Taconic Hills. In these areas, snowfall rates exceeded 4 inches per hour during the height of the storm, which took place during the later afternoon hours. A foot or more of snow accumulated there by the time the storm ended later in the evening. Specific reports included 8.1 inches of snowfall at the Albany International Airport, a new daily snowfall record for the 5th. The snow resulted in about 50 canceled flights. 7 inches of snow fell at Esperance in Schoharie county as well as Saratoga Springs in Saratoga county. 13.1 inches fell at Platte Clove, Greene county. In Dutchess county, Pawling reported 18.5 inches and Red Hook 13. Stephentown in Rennselaer county was buried with 20.3 inches. The storm closed many schools and some businesses. There were many vehicular accidents, including a spectacualr crash involving four tractor trailers, on the Adirondack Northway, between exit 22 and 23. The following day, temperatures rose to above freezing which made the snow removal easier.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Albany, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 5, 4:05 AM EST, 7 hours 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 5, 4:05 AM EST, 7 hours 55 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
405 AM EST MON FEB 5 2001

.DISC...MDLS ARE IN MCH CLSR AGRMNT TNGHT ON SFC LOW TRCK AND RAPID
DEEPENING. H5 TROF FTRS WITH EXTRMELY SHRP NEG TILT TROF AXIS THRU
SRN NJ AT 00Z TUE ALSO IN AGRMNT. MAIN AREA OF DIFFERENCE IS IN QPF
AMTS WITH MESO ETA AND ETA STL HAVG THE MST PCPN ACRS FA WITH AVN
LEAST AND NGM SLGHTLY MOR THAN AVN. ETA QPF LOOKS SLIGHTLY OVERDONE
AND CONTS TO PUSH AXIS OF HEAVIEST PCPN TOO FAR TO N AND W. GEM ONC
AGAIN HAS THE BST TIMING...AS WITH THE DEC 30TH STORM. SNW EXPANDING
VRY RAPIDLY N AND WILL RCH NRN PTN OF FA ARND DAYBREAK...GEM IS THE ONLY
MDL THIS FST ALTHOUGH GEM QPF LWR THAN YSTRDY. BOTTOM LN IS PREFER
GEM TIMING AND SLIGHTLY UNDR ETA QPFS. THANKS TO ALL WFOS FOR COOR.

.SHORT TERM...FCST SPECIFICS HEAVIEST SNW WL BE FM LATE MRNG THRU
ERLY EVNG WITH SNOW MICROPHYSICS BASED ON BUFKIT SNDGS FVRG ARND A
13 TO 1 RATIO WITH A PERIOD OF 1 TO 2 INCH PER HR SNOWFALL AMTS DURG
THE AFT. HEAVIEST AXIS OF SNOW SHLD RUN FM ERN CATSKLS AND MID
HUDSON VLY UP THRU GTR CAP DSTRCT...TACONICS AND BERKS INTO SRN VT.
WL PUT HIGHEST ACCUMULATIONS IN SRN VT...TACOINICS AND BERKS DUE TO
SOM UPSLOPE ENHANCEMENT...WITH 12 TO 18 INCHES AND 8 TO 16 INCHES
ACRS RMNDR OF HEAVIEST AXIS. WL THEN TAPER AMTS OFF QUICKLY TO THE N
AND W WITH ONLY AN ADVISORY WITH 3 TO 6 INCHES HERKIMER CTY.

.LONG TERM...WL TAPER SNW OFF ARND MIDNIGHT MCH OF FA...XCPT WL
LINGER SNW LONGER ACRS SRN VT WHERE SOM WRAP ARND MSTR MAY KEEP AT
LEAST MOD SNW GOING TIL ARND 400 AM. NO CHNGS TO EXTENDED AT THIS
TIME.

.ALY...WINTER STORM WARNING THROUGH THIS EVENING
       NYZ033-039>043-047>054-058>061-063>066-MAZ001-CTZ001
       WINTER STORM WARNING THROUGH TONIGHT
       VTZ013-014
       WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY THROUGH THIS EVENING
       NYZ032-038

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

19 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Eastern Dutchess

When
February 5, 12:00 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where
Eastern Dutchess forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
41.765, -73.743 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Ulster

When
February 5, 12:00 PM EST to 10:00 PM EST
Where
Eastern Ulster forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
41.888, -74.259 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Dutchess

When
February 5, 12:00 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where
Western Dutchess forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
41.765, -73.743 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Ulster

When
February 5, 12:00 PM EST to 10:00 PM EST
Where
Western Ulster forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
41.888, -74.259 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Columbia

When
February 5, 1:00 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where
Eastern Columbia forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.250, -73.632 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Greene

When
February 5, 1:00 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where
Eastern Greene forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.277, -74.123 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Rensselaer

When
February 5, 1:00 PM EST to February 6, 1:00 AM EST
Where
Eastern Rensselaer forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.711, -73.510 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Columbia

When
February 5, 1:00 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where
Western Columbia forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.250, -73.632 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Greene

When
February 5, 1:00 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where
Western Greene forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.277, -74.123 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Albany

When
February 5, 2:00 PM EST to February 6, 12:00 AM EST
Where
Eastern Albany forecast zone
Reported by
OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates
42.600, -73.974 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Albany

When
February 5, 2:00 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where
Western Albany forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.600, -73.974 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Rensselaer

When
February 5, 2:00 PM EST to February 6, 1:00 AM EST
Where
Western Rensselaer forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.711, -73.510 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Schenectady

When
February 5, 3:00 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where
Eastern Schenectady forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.818, -74.059 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Montgomery

When
February 5, 3:00 PM EST to 10:00 PM EST
Where
Montgomery forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.902, -74.440 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Southern Saratoga

When
February 5, 4:00 PM EST to 11:00 PM EST
Where
Southern Saratoga forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
43.107, -73.864 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Washington

When
February 5, 4:00 PM EST to February 6, 2:00 AM EST
Where
Washington forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
43.314, -73.431 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Schenectady

When
February 5, 4:00 PM EST to 10:00 PM EST
Where
Western Schenectady forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.818, -74.059 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Northern Saratoga

When
February 5, 5:00 PM EST to February 6, 12:00 AM EST
Where
Northern Saratoga forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
43.107, -73.864 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Schoharie

When
February 5, 6:00 PM EST to 10:00 PM EST
Where
Schoharie forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
42.588, -74.442 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm
A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in New York in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in New York, February 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5229883, 5229887, 5229895, 5229899, 5229882, 5229884, 5229885, 5229894, 5229896, 5229881, 5229893, 5229897, 5229886, 5229888, 5229891, 5229892, 5229898, 5229889, 5229890.