New York, 2003

Heavy Snow in New York, April 7, 2003

April 7, 2003 · NWS OKX · 10 events in 10 counties and zones

This late season snowstorm produced widespread snowfall amounts of 4 to 7 inches in New York City and Long Island. This included about a 4 hour period on the afternoon of Monday, April 7th during which heavy snow fell at rates of an inch or more per hour.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 8 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
10

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 OKX wrote it up.

This late season snowstorm produced widespread snowfall amounts of 4 to 7 inches in New York City and Long Island. This included about a 4 hour period on the afternoon of Monday, April 7th during which heavy snow fell at rates of an inch or more per hour. Local impacts from the storm included over 300 cancelled flights at LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports, a crippled mass transit system, numerous traffic accidents on area roadways and downed tree limbs in the vicinity of Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan.

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 New York, NY wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 7, 3:15 PM EST, 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 7, 3:15 PM EST, 45 minutes before
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Hazardous weather outlook, Apr 7, 4:28 AM EST, 11 hours 32 minutes before
CTZ005>012-NJZ002>006-011-NYZ067>081-081100-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE UPTON NY
528 AM EDT MON APR 7 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST NEW YORK...
NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHERN CONNECTICUT.

.DAY ONE...TODAY
SNOW WILL DEVELOP DURING THE MORNING HOURS AND CONTINUE INTO THE
EVENING.  ALONG THE COAST...THE SNOW WILL MIX WITH AND CHANGE TO
SLEET EARLY THIS EVENING.  AS THE PRECIPITATION WINDS DOWN LATER
THIS EVENING...THERE MAY BE A BRIEF PERIOD OF FREEZING DRIZZLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

...MIDWEEK...
ANOTHER WEAK STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE SOUTH OF THE REGION TUESDAY
NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY...AND MAY BRING SOME LIGHT SNOW...DRIZZLE OR
FREEZING DRIZZLE.

...LATE IN THE WEEK...
YET ANOTHER APPROACHING STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING SOME RAIN TO THE
REGION LATE IN THE WEEK.  HYDROLOGIC CONDITIONS WILL HAVE TO BE
MONITORED CLOSELY FROM THE COMBINED EFFECTS OF SNOWMELT AND RAINFALL
FROM THE LATE WEEK STORM.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTERS ARE ASKED TO REPORT THEIR SNOW AND SLEET ACCUMULATIONS TO
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE THROUGHOUT THIS EARLY SPRING STORM.
REPORTS EVERY FEW HOURS WOULD BE APPRECIATED...WITH ONE FINAL
MEASUREMENT AFTER THE PRECIPITATION ENDS LATER TONIGHT.

YOU CAN EMAIL US YOUR REPORTS VIA THE SPOTTER REPORT FORM THROUGH
OUR HOME PAGE AT HTTP://WWW.ERH.NOAA.GOV/OKX/SPOTTERREPORT.HTML
...OR EMAIL THEM DIRECTLY TO OKX.SPOTTERS@NOAA.GOV.

REYNOLDS/NF

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

10 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, New York (Manhattan)

When
April 7, 4:00 PM EST to 5:00 PM EST
Where
New York (Manhattan) forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
40.774, -73.970 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Bronx

When
April 7, 4:00 PM EST to 5:00 PM EST
Where
Bronx forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
40.827, -73.924 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Richmond (Staten Is.)

When
April 7, 4:00 PM EST to 5:00 PM EST
Where
Richmond (Staten Is.) forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
40.583, -74.150 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Kings (Brooklyn)

When
April 7, 4:00 PM EST to 5:00 PM EST
Where
Kings (Brooklyn) forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
40.634, -73.950 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Queens

When
April 7, 4:00 PM EST to 5:00 PM EST
Where
Queens forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, Nassau

When
April 7, 4:00 PM EST to 5:30 PM EST
Where
Nassau forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, Northwest Suffolk

When
April 7, 4:00 PM EST to 6:00 PM EST
Where
Northwest Suffolk forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
40.941, -72.685 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Northeast Suffolk

When
April 7, 5:00 PM EST to 6:00 PM EST
Where
Northeast Suffolk forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
40.941, -72.685 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Southwest Suffolk

When
April 7, 5:00 PM EST to 6:00 PM EST
Where
Southwest Suffolk forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
40.941, -72.685 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Southeast Suffolk

When
April 7, 5:00 PM EST to 6:00 PM EST
Where
Southeast Suffolk forecast zone
Reported by
TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates
40.941, -72.685 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow
Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in New York in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in New York, April 2003

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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5350120, 5350121, 5350122, 5350123, 5350124, 5350125, 5350126, 5350127, 5350128, 5350129.