Saturday, May 09, 2020

Snow Falling in Midtown Manhattan This Afternoon...

Radar shows snow and rain showers covering a large area of the Northeast this afternoon. People (and myself) were amazed at seeing snow over the past hour or so.  The temperature at 5 p.m. in Central Park was 45 degrees. It is windy and cold today, feels like February!  Last Saturday the high temperature was 73 and last Sunday it was 80.  A trace of snow fell between approximately 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. this morning and between approximately 4:45 p.m. and 5:15 p.m. this afternoon in Midtown Manhattan.  The polar vortex is breaking down and this will be the last taste of winterlike weather until next October or November.  This past winter it hardly snowed at all after the early December 1-2, 2019 storm. This is the first time snow has reached the ground in Manhattan since 1977 and only the third time since records began in the mid 1800s.
George Wright is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist for Wright Weather Consulting, LLC. Visit our website at WrightWeather.com. Follow George Wright on Twitter @gwweather.









Snow Falls for the First Time in in May in 43 Years in New York City...

Cold, Arctic air made it feel like March yesterday and today with snow and record low temperatures from the Midwest to the Northeast this morning and produced snow in May in New York City for the first time in 43 years. The last time snow fell in May in Central Park was on May 9, 1977 - a day I remember. Early this morning between 1:45 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. I saw a few flakes of snow that may have been mixed with drizzle in Midtown.  Central Park reported "unknown precipitation" 35 degrees, La Guardia reported light snow mixed with rain 37 degrees and JFK Airport reported light snow and 36 degrees at 1:51 a.m. Snowfall reports received by the NWS included 0.9" in Highland Lakes, NJ, 0.2" in Wantage, 0.3" in Succasunna and a trace in Freehold, NJ. The weather will be unseasonably cold today with a high only in the 40s to near 50.  More than 6 inches of snow fell in northern NH, VT and ME.  There is a chance of rain mixed with snow showers until the early afternoon. Milder weather for Sunday with a high near 60 in the city.  Once again, a cold Spring has followed a mild winter in the Northeast/New York City metro area.  For the first time in about 80 years it did not reach 70 degrees in Central Park in April. 
George Wright is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist for Wright Weather Consulting, LLC. Visit our website at WrightWeather.com. Follow George Wright on Twitter @gwweather.