April Snow in Manhattan!

Between approximately 10:30 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. on April 8, 2009 light snow was falling in Manhattan! As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the overall weather pattern was setting up to be a cold start to the spring season and that there would be a chance for some snow in the city as well as in the northern suburbs and upstate New York.

The radar (left) indicated an area of scattered rain and snow showers were still occuring in the early afternoon across the Northeast.

The NAM model (left) indicated cold air across the Northeast in the wake of yesterday's storm. The GFS model continues to show a progressive and active weather pattern typical of April for the next 14 to 16 days through April 24, 2009. The Midwest and the Northeast are forecast to receive four significant precipitation producing weather systems during this time period. The 500 mb forecast pattern indicates that the temperatures will be at or slightly below normal for the eastern USA with a much cooler than normal pattern forecast later in the period. In the NYC-Metropolitan area, there will be periods of sunny, mild weather which makes this one of the best times of the year in the city.

The temperature at the time of today's snowfall in Manhattan was 41 degrees. See the official local airport observations at 10 am on April 8, 2009 below:

CENTRAL PARK CLOUDY 41 26 55 SW10G17 29.68S
LAGUARDIA APRT PTSUNNY 41 24 51 W15G22 29.66S
KENNEDY INTL PTSUNNY 43 27 53 SW20 29.68S
NEWARK/LIBERTY PTSUNNY 42 23 46 W17G25 29.66F

George Wright, AMS Certified Consulting Meteorologist and President of Wright Weather Consulting, Inc. View our web site at WrightWeather.com.