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

A complex and slow-moving coastal storm affected much of southeast New York and Long Island from Sunday March 4th through the early morning hours of Wednesday March 7th. This storm was accompanied by a mixture of snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain through the early portion of the event, and mainly heavy snow for the remainder of the event. Gusty winds and minor to moderate coastal flooding and beach erosion also occurred along coastal portions of Long Island.On Sunday March 4th, a strong low pressure system moved east across the Tennessee Valley, while a new low slowly developed off the Mid Atlantic coast. The precipitation shield accompanying this complex storm system moved north and reached southeast New York in the form of spotty light snow and sleet by Sunday afternoon. The precipitation intensified Sunday night and early Monday, but as warmer air moved into the region aloft, the snow changed to a mixture of sleet, freezing rain and rain by Monday morning along coastal sections. Some portions of interior southeast New York received several inches of snow from this initial surge of precipitation.During Monday March 5th, the new low pressure system off the Mid Atlantic coast began to intensify rapidly. This spread heavy precipitation across eastern Long Island from the east by Monday afternoon and evening. As colder air was drawn into the storm's circulation, the precipitation changed to heavy wet snow by Monday evening across eastern Long Island. Snowfall rates of two to three inches per hour for at least 3 hours were common across most of Suffolk County through the early portion of Monday night. This heavier snow also began to move west, spreading across western Long Island and the New York City area later Monday night into Tuesday.Bands of moderate to heavy wet snow continued into Tuesday across much of southeast New York, extending back into interior sections as the low slowly drifted north off the eastern end of Long Island. This coastal low then became nearly stationary during Tuesday, and even retrograded slightly to the southwest during Tuesday afternoon. This prolonged the periods of moderate to heavy wet snow across most of southeast New York into the late afternoon hours on Tuesday. The storm finally began to retreat east off the New Jersey coast Tuesday night and Wednesday, allowing the snow to taper off and end by early Wednesday morning on March 7th.The combination of very heavy wet snow and strong winds with this prolonged coastal storm produced scattered power outages across southeast New York, primarily across Suffolk County. In addition, many schools and businesses were closed for several days due to the hazardous nature of this storm. Here are some storm total snowfall amounts:For Orange County: 6 inches at Middletown, to 13 inches at Monroe and Tuxedo Park.For Putnam County: 6 inches at Carmel, to 14 inches at Mahopac.For Rockland County: 4.5 inches at Valley Cottage, to 7.6 inches at Stony Point.For Westchester County: 5.5 inches at New Rochelle, to 9.5 inches at Yonkers.For New York County (Manhattan): 3.5 inches at Central Park, to 6 inches at Columbia University.For Bronx County: 4 inches to 6.7 inches.For Kings County (Brooklyn): 2.5 inches at Bay Ridge, to 4.2 inches at Gravesend.For Richmond County (Staten Island): 3 inches at New Dorp, to 3.8 inches at Grasmere.For Queens County: 3.7 inches at John F. Kennedy International Airport, to 6.0 inches at La Guardia Airport.For Nassau County: 4 inches at Sea Cliff, to 7.4 inches at Hicksville.For Suffolk County: 5.6 inches at Montauk Point, to 16.0 inches at East Setauket and Huntington.