Hi friends, welcome back! It’s been a brutal winter in NYC this year! Between the snow and the freezing cold, I didn’t think we’d get another snowstorm this year after getting almost a foot of snow at the end of January. Boy was I wrong and four weeks later a blizzard shut down the city. All the roads and bridges were closed for nonessential travel for 15 hours and we got a total of 19 inches of snow in about 24 hours! So far we’ve got over 42 inches of snow and on average we get about 23 inches. Most of the snow came overnight and when we woke up we couldn’t see much out our window.
This is what it looked like out our window after the blizzard officially ended.
I went outside mid-blizzard and was amazed at how much was already shoveled and cleared. The city offered anyone eligible $30/hour to shovel the sidewalks. They seemed to have learned quickly from the last snowstorm because within two days it barely looked like it had even snowed.
I walked north on Broadway and it was weird seeing no cars on the road. This street is usually bumper to bumper traffic.
You can barely tell, but City Hall is in the background.
It was so quiet out, that is one nice thing about the snow.
I started making my way over to the Oculus and 9/11 Memorial.
The snow gets hauled away in these large trash containers and put into hot tub like machines that can melt snow at a rate of up to 120 tons an hour.
Making my way back home.
Thankfully it’s been warmer so what’s left of the blizzard has basically melted away. This will be my last snow reporting of the season because if we get another, I refuse to participate. I need some spring after this brutal winter!
You have done an excellent job of cataloguing this storm Lyssy. That is a crazy amount of snow to fall there. It is more like something you might see in Buffalo than NYC and it certainly makes your city far snowier and more wintry than ours and we are so much further North. Climate change is real and lets hope we can cope with what is coming. Happy Tuesday. Allan
Thank you! The craziest part is the day before they were only predicting 1-3 inches and then all of a sudden it got upgraded to a blizzard. It is definitely more fitting of Buffalo or where you live! It is crazy people still think global warming is a hoax.
Wonderful photos! You have a good view from your window. Years ago, when I lived in the city, I was alone during a snowstorm in my apt. in the East Village. I remember I went out, bought a whole chicken and some vegetables and let it cook on the stove. Right before the storm. Cold memories.
Thank you! Some chicken soup is the perfect cozy meal for a snowstorm. That is a great memory.
Oh gosh! I feel cold just looking at your photos! Your winter has been brutal but that is so cool that anyone could earn a bit of money from shovelling snow.
My fingers were cold by the end of the walk! It was a great idea to get all those sidewalks shoveled.
It’s odd seeing NYC so quiet. Great photos btw
Thank you! If it wasn’t so pretty out it would’ve been eerie seeing the city so quiet.
That’s a crazy amount of snow! Interesting that they melt it instead of piling, but I guess there’s a lack of space. I hope it’s the last storm for you. Maggie
So much snow! Yeah we don’t have any parking lots to just dump the snow, seems there’s barely enough room for the amount of cars on a good day. It’s going to be 70 degrees next week, but we usually get some false springs….
Oh your closing line made me smile! That’s pretty much how I feel… as it’s flurrying outside my windows. I think it is so neat the city offered anyone eligible $30/hour to shovel!
Haha yeah we can’t take much more snow! I’m afraid these warm days ahead will just be a tease before another cold front. It was a great idea to get the sidewalks cleared!
Some great photos of the recent blizzard Lyssy. I’m very impressed at how quickly they clear the roads and pavements.
Thank you! I was amazed how it barely looked like a blizzard came through.
This is a fantastic walkabout! Living in a moderate climate, I’ve a rather romanticised view of snow – although we saw the other side of it a number of years back when we got stranded in Boston – actually your street scenes are so similar… I never considered that they would melt the snow to get rid of it. I’m impressed that the authorities would pay people to clear the pavements – I’d have thought the opposite – that such activity would leave the council open to insurance claims ….
The snow is nice for a day when you have nowhere to be. It’s when it turns to slush that it’s not so great anymore. It’s tough getting stranded!! That is true they must have signed a lot of liability waivers, shoveling can be very dangerous!
Way back in the winter of 1993-1994 we were newlyweds with our first home in Valley Stream. No snowblower. It snowed a ton that year. Then again the winter of 1995-1996 so we finally bought a snowblower. Didn’t snow again like that while we lived there.
That is funny!! I never bought Violet a snowsuit this year so perhaps it is my fault that we got all this snow. If I was prepared, we never would’ve gotten any snow.
Here in SE Michigan we only shoveled twice all last year. This year we shoveled twice by November. Because I love the U.P. (Upper Peninsula as I recently discovered on our trip to Florida that most people don’t know what the U.P. means) I follow Yooper Steve. He reports that daily snowfall from Calumet, Michigan outside weather station. They expect 300 inches by the end of winter. He signs off each day by saying, “Stay Cold My Friend.”
It’s been a snowy year!! I remember my dad sending pics of the snow in November. Wow that is a lot of snow! I do not like the saying “Stay Cold” haha. Bring on spring Steve!
Gosh, you guys are just getting slammed this season! Those photos of snow drifted on the cars and piled on top of the trash cans are wild!
So much snow this year! Wish I could send it your way. I wouldn’t have believed we got so much snow if it wasn’t for the pics of the car and trash cans.
Oh wow, New York turned into Narnia! On a serious note, I hope all is well and the weather is a little kinder to you all soon.
WOW it is absolutely crazy how deep the snow is!! It’s totally beautiful, but I can’t believe your hands weren’t frozen off getting the camera out again and again! 🙂
Love the parting comment about refusing to participate. Stand up for good weather, Lyssy! The first fence photo is awesome – so picturesque overwhelmed with snow. And I never considered the insulation properties of snow – makes the city even quieter than just because of the lack of vehicles. Glad you came through the storm okay, though. Heard it was a whole lot worse in Boston.
I love all of your snowy winter photos. It is neat to see the city in that perspective. We really had a big winter this year with all the snow!!!
That’s a lot of snow!! Glad to hear the snow was cleared quickly from the sidewalks. Hope it’s starting to melt now! I’m looking forward to spring.
Wow Lyssy, there’s something simultaneously strange, magical and frightening about seeing New York in this state. A city that normally feels so fast and loud suddenly looks quiet and almost gentle. I liked the contrast in your photos between the empty streets and familiar landmarks buried under fresh snow—it really does make it feel like a completely different place. Props to you for going outside in the middle of that madness, and what a fantastic city incentive for everyone who can to chip in and help with shovelling.
It’s so spectacular and amazing, as long as you don’t need to go out. Just looking out the window is impressive; you can tell that this is no ordinary day. In the streets, so empty when they are usually so lively, you truly captured the frozen New York.
I was just seeing that the temp in NYC was in the 70s yesterday and then tomorrow it’ll drop back down to the 30s. Yes – climate change is bringing some hella strange weather shifts!
Nice to come across your blog!
J
Sheer madness! Weather has been insane this winter, NYC included! Even here in LA, we’ve had soaring temperatures in the 80s/90s…in February! Whoever said climate change wasn’t real? Stay safe, Lyssy!
The first day of spring was on Friday, March 20, but you wouldn’t know that from the blizzard conditions across much of the U.S. – I was just reading on the news that multiple states are bracing for up to 10 inches of snow in late March. It looks like spring has been delayed. Thanks for sharing, and have a good day 🙂 Aiva xx
Wow, snow really makes everything look so magical! It doesn’t snow a lot where I live (and almost never where I grew up) so I am always impressed with how efficient some places are in dealing with snow! When I was a kid I remember having a whole week off school because it snowed a bit on a Monday and no one knew how to deal with that!