12 Hours into the Snowicane, 36 Hours to Go!

It's after 9:00 p.m. and the snow has been falling for over twelve hours now. The snow comes in bands and waves. No matter how heavy or light the precipitation across the tri-state area has been, it has not stopped since pre-dawn. Many areas are already reporting over a foot of snow, while some are still seeing rain. However, even those areas are finally beginning their transition to snow.

For snow lovers like myself it's quite interesting, and somewhat depressing, living in New York City during storms like this... because when I look outside my window on a busy midtown street, all I see is wet roads. No snow covered grass. Just damp concrete. Not much accumulation. Meanwhile uptown just thirty blocks at Central Park there is clear evidence that we are well on our way to a foot of snow in the city. The trees and park benches are plastered white. The park is literally buried. But not my street -- the heat from the cars, the subway, the foot traffic, the buildings -- it all melts my snow. And it drives me absolutely insane!

I am tired of running to the park each time it snows just to see how much there is. But even that hope is shot right now because the authorities are warning people to stay off the streets and out of the parks. The weight of the heavy, wet snow is too much for the trees and power lines to handle. They are falling left and right, and today in Manhattan someone was killed by falling trees. In fact, a tree even fell on a city bus. Trees are also lining the streets in the Upper East Side. As you can imagine its quite dangerous out there.

So as the night progresses so will the heavy snow and wind. By morning we can expect double the amount of snow we have already seen, and additional accumulations are expected through the day tomorrow. There are some hints that the storm will not completely move away from the area until Sunday, but right now we are thinking Saturday morning... which is why the Winter Storm Warnings have been extended until that time.

Overall, the immediate New York City areas accumulation projections have been raised to 12 to 18 inches. On western long island 6 to 12 inches can be expected and on the eastern part of the island about 3 to 6 inches and 1 to 3 inches respectively. Moving westward from the city, however, we are looking at accumulations approaching two feet, if not more in the higher elevations.

Winds are kicking up and will continue through Friday, sometimes gusting near hurricane force.

All in all, the Snowicane continues. I just wish I could see more of it outside my window.