Name: Winter Storm and Heavy Snow in New York, October 29 to 30, 2011
Start: 2011-10-29T09:00
End: 2011-10-30T01:00
Location: New York

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 11 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: 11

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.

A historic and unprecedented early-season winter storm impacted the area on Saturday, October 29, with more than one foot of heavy wet snow falling on interior portions of the Lower Hudson Valley. This is the first time a winter storm of this magnitude has ever occurred in October.

Late Friday night, October 28, an area of low pressure emerged from the South Carolina coastal plain into the western Atlantic Ocean. The low moved up the coast late Friday night into Saturday morning. The low began to rapidly strengthen late Saturday morning when it was east of the Delmarva coast, and continued to strengthen as it passed south of Long Island Saturday night. With water temperatures in the lower 60s, much of Long Island received mainly rainfall and up to 2 inches of rain during the event. Areas just north and west of New York City, however, were just cold enough to support a heavy wet snow. The heaviest snow fell across interior portions of the Lower Hudson Valley, with one foot or more of snowfall across highest elevations. In addition to the heavy rain and snow...strong winds were experienced along the immediate coastline.

Thousands of people across southeast New York lost power during this event as heavy snow accumulated on trees that still had partial to full foliage during mid-autumn. This caused extensive felling of trees and limbs across the region and damage to power lines.

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 Oct 29, 6:54 AM EST, 2 hours 6 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 29, 6:54 AM EST, 2 hours 6 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 29, 3:19 AM EST, 5 hours 41 minutes before

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The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

6 winter storm, 5 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Southern Westchester

When: October 29, 9:00 AM EST to October 30, 1:00 AM EST
Where: Southern Westchester forecast zone
Reported by: Official NWS Observations
Coordinates: 41.152, -73.753 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Widespread tree damage and power outages occurred due to 6 to 10 inches of heavy wet snow. The heavier amounts fell in the higher elevations and away from the coast. In White Plains, a large tree limb was downed on Anderson Hill Road around 1243 pm EST, partially blocking it. Additionally, numerous trees and wires were reported down in Vernon Park and Mamaroneck between 2 and 3 pm EST.

Winter Storm, Bronx

When: October 29, 10:00 AM EST to October 30, 12:00 AM EST
Where: Bronx forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 40.827, -73.924 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Between 2 to 6 inches of heavy wet snow fell across the county, with the heaviest amounts across the northwest corner of the county. A significant number of trees came down across the county starting around 1 pm EST due to the combined heavy wet snow and 15 to 20 mph winds. Hundreds of trees were downed through the storm.

Winter Storm, Richmond (Staten Is.)

When: October 29, 10:00 AM EST to October 30, 12:00 AM EST
Where: Richmond (Staten Is.) forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 40.583, -74.150 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Widespread tree damage and power outages occurred due to 2 to 4 inches of heavy wet snow. A significant number of trees came down across the county starting around 1 pm EST due to the combined heavy wet snow and 15 to 20 mph winds. Hundreds of trees were downed through the storm.

Specifically, numerous trees were reported down on Bard Avenue between Clove Road and Forest Avenue, with downed power lines on Victory Boulevard between I-278 and Bard Avenue by the late evening of the 29th.

Winter Storm, New York (Manhattan)

When: October 29, 10:00 AM EST to October 30, 12:00 AM EST
Where: New York (Manhattan) forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 40.774, -73.970 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Widespread tree damage and power outages occurred due to 2 to 4 inches of heavy wet snow. A significant number of trees came down across the county starting around 1 pm EST due to the combined heavy wet snow and 15 to 20 mph winds. Hundreds of trees and thousands of tree limbs were downed through the storm, especially in Central Park.

Winter Storm, Northern Queens

When: October 29, 10:00 AM EST to October 30, 1:00 AM EST
Where: Northern Queens forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 40.658, -73.839 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A significant number of trees came down across the county starting around 1 pm EST due to the combination of 1 to 3 inches of heavy wet snow and 15 to 20 mph winds. Hundreds of trees were downed through the storm.

Winter Storm, Southern Queens

When: October 29, 10:00 AM EST to October 30, 1:00 AM EST
Where: Southern Queens forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 40.658, -73.839 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A significant number of trees came down across the county starting around 1 pm EST due to the combined heavy wet snow and 15 to 20 mph winds. Hundreds of trees were downed through the storm.

Winter Storm, Kings (Brooklyn)

When: October 29, 10:00 AM EST to October 30, 1:00 AM EST
Where: Kings (Brooklyn) forecast zone
Reported by: Emergency Manager
Coordinates: 40.634, -73.950 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A significant number of trees came down across the county starting around 1 pm EST due to the combination of 1 to 3 inches of heavy wet snow and 15 to 20 mph winds. Hundreds of trees were downed through the storm.

Heavy Snow, Rockland

When: October 29, 10:00 AM EST to October 30, 12:00 AM EST
Where: Rockland forecast zone
Reported by: Official NWS Observations
Coordinates: 41.152, -74.024 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Widespread tree damage and power outages occurred due to 4 to 8 inches of heavy wet snow. The heavier amounts fell in the higher elevations. In New City, downed trees blocked lanes on route 304 at Bardonia and Germonds around 230 pm EST. Meanwhile, numerous trees and tree limbs were downed in Tallman and Pomona by 4 pm EST.

Heavy Snow, Northern Westchester

When: October 29, 10:00 AM EST to October 30, 1:00 AM EST
Where: Northern Westchester forecast zone
Reported by: Official NWS Observations
Coordinates: 41.152, -73.753 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Widespread tree damage and power outages occurred due to 6 to 13 inches of heavy wet snow. The heavier amounts fell in the higher elevations. In Valhalla and Somers, numerous trees were reported down by the afternoon of the 29th.

Heavy Snow, Orange

When: October 29, 11:00 AM EST to October 30, 12:00 AM EST
Where: Orange forecast zone
Reported by: Official NWS Observations
Coordinates: 41.402, -74.306 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Widespread tree damage and power outages occurred due to 8 to 16 inches of heavy wet snow. The heavier amounts fell in the higher elevations. Specifically, in Warwick and Goshen numerous tree limbs were reported down by the afternoon of the 29th. In Blooming Grove, a tree was reported down on a car on Village Road. around 4 pm EST as well. In Slate Hill, Ridgebury Road between Country Road 12 and Greeves Road was closed for several hours due to numerous downed trees.

Heavy Snow, Putnam

When: October 29, 11:00 AM EST to October 30, 1:00 AM EST
Where: Putnam forecast zone
Reported by: Official NWS Observations
Coordinates: 41.427, -73.749 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Widespread tree damage and power outages occurred due to 7 to 12 inches of heavy wet snow. The heavier amounts fell in the higher elevations. In Brewster, numerous large branches were downed with power outages by around 2 pm EST. While in Mahopac, spotters reported numerous larges branches and limbs down around the town during by the afternoon of the 29th.

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.
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 2011 Every state in 2011 This day in weather history Warnings in New York, October 2011

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: 352930, 352917, 352918, 352919, 352920, 352921, 352922, 352927, 352929, 352925, 352926.