A low pressure area developed in the Mississippi valley by late on January 2. The storm tracked northward into the southern Ohio Valley, then rapidly redeveloped along the Mid Atlantic seaboard on January 3.
Every event with a place to put it; 24 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS ALY wrote it up.
A low pressure area developed in the Mississippi valley by late on January 2. The storm tracked northward into the southern Ohio Valley, then rapidly redeveloped along the Mid Atlantic seaboard on January 3. From there, it moved northeast to just off the coast of Cape Cod by late on January 4. With plenty of cold air in place the stage was set for another snowstorm across eastern New York. Although this storm was not as powerful as the Christmas Day storm, it moved very slowly allowing for a longer duration of snow and another blockbuster snowstorm across eastern New York. Light snow began falling early on the January 3, then it became heavier and steadier as the day wore on. A heavy band of snow formed over the Mohawk Valley, in a similar location to the storm on Christmas Day. This band weakened, but other more migratory ones over eastern New York produced bursts of heavy snow, up to 3 inches per hour, followed by lulls of lighter snow. Thundersnow was reported in the city of Gloversville. A lightning strike wiped out the electricity good part of the Gloversville-Johnstown Wastewater Treatment Facility. By the time the snow ended, a general 1 to 2 foot mantle of fresh snow covered eastern New York. Specific snowfall amounts included 20.8 inches at Albany, which made it the second greatest January snowstorm on record, and the 10th all time heaviest snowstorm ever. Also, it was the first season since 1887-88 that two storms of more than 20 inches were recorded at Albany during the same season. Other localities included 20.5 inches at Stuyvesant, Columbia County, 15.8 inches at Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, 17.0 inches at Indian Lake, Hamilton County, and 17.0 inches at North Creek, Warren County. Alcove Dam in Albany County, reported the highest amount with 24.6 inches. The heavy snow combined with the ice leftover from the previous storm, to bring down many large evergreen limbs and whole trees. The towns of Clifton Park, Guilderland, New Scotland and Delmar suffered the most tree damage. The large limbs and trees brought down many power lines, resulting in power losses to as many as 30,000 Capital District residents. An additional 1500 customers were without power in Greene County. The weight of the snow also caused some roofs to collapse. A portion of a factory roof collapsed in the city of Rotterdam, with no injuries reported. Another roof buckled at a warehouse at the Scotia-Glenville Industrial Park again with no injuries. A barn roof collapsed in Fort Plain, killing a couple of Holstein calfs located inside of that structure. The storm resulted in 15 cancellation of flights from the Albany International Airport. Many businesses and schools were forced to close early. The impact of this snowstorm was somewhat minimized by the fact that the majority of the snowfell fell during a weekend.
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 3, 3:30 PM EST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY 330 PM EST FRI JAN 3 2003 .DISC...WINTER STORM BEARING DOWN ON US. ALL ZONES WILL BE UNDER WINTER STORM WRNGS TONIGHT AND SATURDAY. 12Z MESOETA LOOKS LIKE IT HAS A FAIRLY GOOD HANDLE ON THINGS. WILL ONLY MAKE A FEW CHGS TO PREV PKG. WILL EXTEND 12 TO 24 INCH AREA TO INCLUDE OUR SRN VT COUNTIES AND WILL ALSO EXTEND THE 12 TO 18 AREA TO INCLUDE WARREN COUNTY. WILL LEAVE WRN ADIRONDACKS IN THE 6 TO 12 RANGE...STILL WSW RANGE...BUT LOOKS LIKE RATHER GOOD PRECIP CUTOFF FOR MAIN STORM AND LOWLEVEL WNDS AT END DONT LOOK FAVORABL FOR EITHER LK EFFCT SNO OR BACKLASH ARND THE BACK OF STRM. MAIN PCPN SHIELD LIFTS OUT OF AREA BETWN 18Z AND 00Z SO PREV TIMING OF WSW LOOKS GOOD. WILL INCLUDE POSIBLITY OF MIXED PRECIP TYPES TONIGHT FOR LITCHFIELD...DUTCHESS...AND EASTERN ULSTER COUNTIES. REPORTS EARLIER TDA OF RA/FZRA NOT TOO FAR SOUTH OF US. MOST OF PCPN EVEN TONITE SHD BE SNOW EXCEPT EXTRM SRN DUTCHESS AND LITCHFIELD COS. BY DAYBREAK PCPN SHOULD BE ALL SNOW OVR ENTIRE AREA. THE SNOW WILL TAPER OFF AND END BY LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON. GOING BEYOND...HAVE PRETTY MUCH STUCK TO AVMOS/MRFMOS GUIDNC FOR EXTENDED PERIODS. WILL LEAVE WED FCST AS CHANCE OF SNOW TO KEEP THINGS SIMPLE. THINGS WILL BE ON THE NIPPY SIDE OVR THE WEEKEND BUT SHD RECOVER SOME LATER IN THE WEEK. .HYDROLOGICAL STATUS...NO IMMEDIATE HYDRO PROBLEMS...BUT COULD LEAD TO SUBSTANTIAL FRESHET/ICE JAM PROBLEM ONCE THINGS WARM UP ENOUGH TO MELT IT ALL. .ALY...WINTER STORM WARNING ALL ZONES FOR TONIGHT AND SATURDAY. KILPATRICK
CTZ001-MAZ001-NYZ032-033-038>043-047>054-058>061-063>066-VTZ013-014- 032300- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ALBANY NY 445 AM EST FRI JAN 3 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR EASTERN NEW YORK AND ADJACENT WESTERN NEW ENGLAND. .DAY ONE...TODAY A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL REDEVELOP OFF THE NEW JERSEY COAST TODAY. AS THIS SYSTEM REDEVELOPS AND MOVES NORTHWARD...SNOW WILL INCREASE IN INTENSITY THIS AFTERNOON AND BECOME HEAVY AT TIMES DURING THE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS. SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL ACCUMULATIONS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE REGION. .DAYS TWO THOUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY AFTERNOON. BY MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING...A STORM WILL DEVELOP SOUTH OF THE REGION. DEPENDING ON THE TRACK OF THIS SYSTEM...ANOTHER SNOW STORM COULD DEVELOP LATE MONDAY INTO TUESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION AND MORE DETAIL...VISIT US ON THE WEB AT WWW.WEATHER.GOV. FROM THERE YOU CAN CLICK ON THE AREA YOU ARE INTERESTED IN...AND VISIT THE LOCAL FORECAST OFFICE IN THAT AREA. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO...THE VOICE OF THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE...FOR FURTHER DETAILS OR UPDATES.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
24 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New York in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in New York, January 2003
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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5338329, 5338330, 5338331, 5338332, 5338333, 5338334, 5338335, 5338336, 5338337, 5338338, 5338339, 5338340, 5338341, 5338342, 5338343, 5338344, 5338345, 5338346, 5338347, 5338348, 5338349, 5338350, 5338351, 5338352.