I agree with you, NGZ. We were told that the brunt of the storm would not hit until after sundown. That said, I have a few observations from my lair here on Long Island:
1. Many people in Suffolk County (the easternmost part of the Island) do not work here. They work in Nassau County or in NYC. What was rain and much lighter snow in those places was a blizzard here, but most companies did not close at all, and many did not even close early.
2. Most people began their treks home from work/school MUCH earlier than usual. Rush hour did not start at the usual 4:30-5:00 hour, but from 1:00 onwards. At that time, the weather was unpleasant, but certainly no worse than other unpleasant days.
3. Even on a GOOD day, rush hour is no fun and the weather early Friday afternoon was rainy/sleety and cold. I saw unusually bad traffic all throughout the afternoon, hours before the brunt of the storm was to hit. (The reports I heard were for light snow in the afternoon, getting heavier as the day wore on, to blizzard conditions after sundown.) The traffic was literally at a bumper-to-bumper stand-still, leaving the people with nowhere to go, and no way to get off the roads they were on.
4. I suspect that many or most of the people stranded had begun their journeys hours beforehand and due to the very VERY slow traffic got stuck right in the middle of the storm. And when that storm DID hit (hours earlier than expected), it dumped a LOT of snow very quickly. We tried to keep up with it, but gave up around 9:00 pm.
5. For the first time I can remember, snow removal has been an unmitigated disaster. I have seen only ONE snow plow since yesterday when it attempted to clear my street. This was no little pickup truck, either, but a full-sized mammoth. It got stuck right in front of my house and spun its wheels for at least 45 minutes. I’m not even sure how it got out (I stopped watching and when I looked again it was gone). I later learned that it was one of the new natural gas-powered trucks the Town just got instead of the old diesel-fueled ones they used to use. The street remains impassable.
6. This is one of the worst winter storms I’ve ever seen. It was very, very bad out last night.
Regards,
I’m in Huntington....very close to the border of Nassau, but on the North Shore. I went to lunch, to complete the rest of my errands and it was hailing mix. By the time I got through with lunch, 1 hour, it was blizzard. This was about 1:30 pm.
Although it started snowing before hand, it was mix. We closed early @ 3:30, instead of 6. By that time, the blizzard was right on top of us.
No one was prepared. We were supposed to get 8-12 inches, instead we got 29.
We also have to keep in mind the emergency personal and 1st responders who were either switching shifts, getting to and from work.
My bff was almost in a terrible car accident on her way home. She was stuck in front of our local hospital (during a shift change no less) and wasn’t moving.
She finally started to move and once a hill hit, the car in front of her started to slide backwards. She got the heck out of it’s way and that car smashed into the car behind her.
This was at 4pm. She was stuck in traffic all that time before the almost accident.
They were about 4-6 hours off course. EVERY site I went to, even weather underground, were off.
Oh, the traffic! I saw 2 people, on my usual 7 minute ride home go RIGHT through a red light, just to get in.
It was like Lord of the Flies!!!
Have you been watching News 12? I usually don’t, but I have been due to the storm. The LIE is a train wreck in Suffolk. They can’t even clear it!
Seems like the South Shore didn’t get hit as bad as us in the North Shore. Southern State looks like paradise compared to the LIE and Northern State!