Winter Storm in New York, January 6 to 7, 2002

Name: Winter Storm in New York, January 6 to 7, 2002
Start: 2002-01-06T22:00
End: 2002-01-07T14:00
Location: New York

January 6 to 7, 2002 · NWS ALY · 18 events in 18 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 18 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: 18

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.

A compact low pressure area developed across the Gulf States on Sunday, January 6. This storm loaded up with Gulf of Mexico moisture, then swiftly tracked up along the Atlantic seaboard, and was already in the Gulf of Maine by Monday morning. The upper level support to this system moved across the region during the day Monday and brought another round of lighter snow. While the two systems never really did evolve into an especially powerful storm, they did manage to produce one of the biggest January snowstorms in recent memory over sections of eastern New York. Snow, in excess of a foot, fell across portions of the eastern Mohawk Valley and Capital District. What was unusual was the intensity of heavy snow that fell late Sunday evening. Eight inches fell in just two hours time at Albany! The official storm total was 17.4 inches, the 5th biggest January snowstorm on record. Other snowfall totals included East Chatham, in Columbia County with 15 inches, and Slide Mountain in Green County with 17 inches. Further south, the swath of snow was in the 6-12 inch range with Poughkeepsie, in Dutchess County, receiving 8.1 inches. Much lighter snow, below the winter storm threshold, fell north of Saratoga Springs. The snow was heavy and wet, and caused up to 2,000 power outages across the region. While the brunt of the storm fell during Sunday night, the lighter round on Monday, coupled with falling temperatures, produced icy roads. The slick surfaces produced a plethora of vehicular accidents, some of which were fatal. While the Albany International Airport remained opened, some flights were cancelled throughout the storm, and many more delayed.

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 Jan 6, 2:12 PM EST, 7 hours 48 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 6, 2:12 PM EST, 7 hours 48 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY
212 PM EST SUN JAN 6 2002

.DISC...MAIN MDL DIFF IS IN DVLPMNT OF SCND LOW S OF LI WHICH IS
APPARENT ON ETA/MESOETA AND NON-EXISTANT ON AVN. WL OPT FOR HIER
ETA/MESO ETA AMNTS OVRNGHT...BUT BELIEVE ETA/MESOETA TOO STG WITH
SCND SYS ON MON. WL JST CALL FOR SOM LIGHT SNW DURG DAY MON. BUFKIT
PCPN TYPE AND PARTIAL THICKNESS VALUES HIGH ENOF TO SUPPORT SOM
MIXING OF SNOW WITH SLEET AND RAIN THIS EVNG IN FAR SE ZONES. QPF
AMTS WL GNRLY BE IN 0.50 TO 0.75 RNG IN WARNING AREA WITH AMTS
APPRCHG AN INCH IN MOR FVRD UPSLOPE AREAS OF ERN CATSKILLS AND
BERKS. QPF WL DROP OFF QUICKLY TO NW WITH SRN ADIRONDACKS LIKELY TO
SEE ONLY ONE TO TWO TENTHS OF AN INCH AND TRANSITION AREA ACRS ERN
MHWK VLY AND SARATOGA RGN UP TO A THIRD OF AN INCH.

GREATEST PRES FALL AT 18Z OVR XTRM NE NC WITH SFC LOW STL BCK OVR
WRN VA/WRN NC WITH PCPN UP TO SRN NJ. H7 DEFORMATION ZONE SETS UP THIS
EVENG ACRS SE NY AND NW PA AND THEN SHIFTS NE OVRNGHT INTO CNTRL AND
ERN NEW ENG. BST UVV AND UPPER DYNAMICS ACRS FA BTWN 03Z AND 09Z
WITH FVRBL SNOW GROWTH PROFILE FOR SOM LRG AGGREGATES OF DENDRITES
AND AMTS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES AN HR PSBL FOR SVRL HRS. SNW ON MON SHLD
BE LIGHTER WITH BASICALLY AN ADDITIONAL INCH OR TWO ACRS FA.

.ALY...WINTER STORM WARNING TONIGHT AND MONDAY
       NYZ040-047>054-058>061-063>066-VTZ013-014-MAZ001-CTZ001
       WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY
       NYZ038-039-041-043

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jan 6, 9:19 PM EST, 41 minutes before

NEW YORK STATEWIDE POLICE INFORMATION NETWORK
TROOP F
0917PM     SUN JAN 06 2002
#1 0000001 000
FMON WLSR
00080    FILE 28   SP MONROE NY1350200                       JAN 06-02
TO       NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

   ROAD CLOSED - ROUTE 6 FROM LONG MOUNTAIN CIRCLE TO CENTRAL VALLEY WEST
BOUND - UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. DUE TO WEATHER CONDITIONS.

AUTH TPR JOSEPH MITCHELL                            HOROWITZ 09-20PM

OPER - HOROWITZ,ROBIN                 2117

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

18 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Eastern Albany

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Eastern Albany forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.600, -73.974 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Columbia

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Eastern Columbia forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.250, -73.632 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Dutchess

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Eastern Dutchess forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.765, -73.743 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Greene

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Eastern Greene forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.277, -74.123 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Rensselaer

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Eastern Rensselaer forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.711, -73.510 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Schenectady

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Eastern Schenectady forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.818, -74.059 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Eastern Ulster

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Eastern Ulster forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.888, -74.259 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Montgomery

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Montgomery forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.902, -74.440 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Northern Saratoga

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Northern Saratoga forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 43.107, -73.864 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Schoharie

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Schoharie forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.588, -74.442 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Southern Saratoga

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Southern Saratoga forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 43.107, -73.864 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Washington

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Washington forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 43.314, -73.431 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Albany

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Western Albany forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.600, -73.974 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Columbia

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Western Columbia forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.250, -73.632 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Dutchess

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Western Dutchess forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 41.765, -73.743 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Greene

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Western Greene forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.277, -74.123 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Rensselaer

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Western Rensselaer forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.711, -73.510 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Western Schenectady

When: January 6, 10:00 PM EST to January 7, 2:00 PM EST
Where: Western Schenectady forecast zone
Reported by: AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates: 42.818, -74.059 (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

Every storm in New York in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in New York, January 2002

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: 5279654, 5279655, 5279656, 5279657, 5279658, 5279659, 5279660, 5279661, 5279662, 5279663, 5279664, 5279665, 5279666, 5279667, 5279668, 5279669, 5279670, 5279671.