The chips, which started Monday night, brought the cumulative total for Manhattan’s famous green lung to just 2.2 inches.
Via AFP
New Yorkers woke up this Tuesday with something they haven’t seen all winter: snow.
The National Weather Service (NWS) measured 4.6 centimeters of snow in Central Park, by far the highest mark this season.
New York is usually covered in white at least twice this season, but this winter’s mild temperatures have so far kept it snow-free.
The chips, which started Monday night, brought the cumulative total for Manhattan’s famous green lung to just 2.2 inches.
However, it did not last long. By mid-morning most of the snow had already turned to sleet, when it started to rain.
Many school districts closed Tuesday as the city prepared for the first snow of the season.
The city government’s Office of Emergency Management issued a warning in effect from 6:00 p.m. local time (2300 GMT) on Monday to 1:00 p.m. local time (1800 GMT) on Tuesday.
New York tends to get its first major snow cover in mid-December.
Last season came on Christmas Eve and this year only on February 1, when nearly half an inch was recorded in Central Park, the most recent record since measurements began in 1869.
All this winter, while New York City and the surrounding Atlantic coastal regions experienced torrential rains, blizzards, some deadly, struck a few hundred miles to the north.
At least 39 people were killed when up to a meter of snow fell in Buffalo, New York, near the Canadian border in December.
New York City has never had a cold season complete without measurable snow. Scientists say climate change is making winters warmer and shorter.
