New York City was hit with its biggest snowfall in several years on Friday and Saturday. By 7 a.m. Saturday, the National Weather Service said, 4.3 inches of snow blanketed Central Park, the first time more than four inches had fallen since Jan. 28-29, 2022.
The storm dropped up to nine inches on parts of the metropolitan region before it pulled away Saturday morning. Only light snow was forecast for the rest of the day.
After bracing for harsh weather that threatened to wreak havoc, New York City dodged the worst of the storm, which covered the wider metropolitan region, including parts of Connecticut and Long Island, with up to 9 inches of snow overnight.
City residents awoke on Saturday to what has become a relative rarity: sidewalks in need of shoveling and hills ready for sleds.
The snowfall made streets icy and dangerous. Sanitation Department plows and salt-spreading trucks were deployed across the city to address the hazardous conditions. The governors of New York and New Jersey declared states of emergency.
The storm, arriving soon after Christmas, forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights at the region’s three major airports, stranding many travelers. As of noon on Saturday, about 20 percent of flights from LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports were canceled, and another 15 percent were delayed, according to the tracking site FlightAware.
Jean and Lawrence Schindelheim of Long Island had planned to fly from Kennedy to Puerto Rico with their two children on Saturday morning for a cruise trip in honor of Mr. Schindelheim’s 60th birthday. The boat departs on Sunday, but on Friday morning, JetBlue canceled the family’s flight and left them scrambling to find another way to get there.
“JetBlue said they would get us on a different flight, and then they came back an hour later and said, ‘Find another flight yourself,’” Ms. Schindelheim said Saturday morning at the terminal at Kennedy.
Nearby in the airport, Rebecca Mazumdar was holding out hope that her flight to India to see her in-laws would depart as scheduled later in the day. Ms. Mazumdar, who lives in Clifton, N.J., had paid about $700 for a last-minute reservation at the T.W.A. Hotel at Kennedy on Friday to avoid getting caught in the storm.
“I wish there was a little more snow to make me feel like that was worthwhile,” she said.
Some earlier forecasts had called for more snow, but even at the reduced totals, the snowfall was substantial for an area where hardly a foot has fallen in some places for three straight winters.
The smaller accumulation in the city was the result of several factors, said David Stark, a Weather Service meteorologist. A layer of slightly warmer air, about 5,000 to 10,000 feet above the ground, turned some of the snow into sleet during the period Friday night when the snowfall was expected to be most intense, he said.
The conditions that meteorologists had predicted for the city also shifted about 40 or 50 miles to the north and east, toward Connecticut and Long Island, late on Friday night, resulting in more snow in those regions, Mr. Stark said.
“Sometimes these ingredients are really hard to pinpoint and nail down up until the event actually starts developing,” he said. “Forty miles is not much when you think about it, but with snow it does make a big difference.”
As of 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, the Weather Service reported accumulations of 7.8 inches in Cold Spring, N.Y., 50 miles north of the city and 9.4 inches in New Fairfield, Conn., 55 miles northeast of New York. Eight inches fell in Ridge, N.Y., on Long Island, 60 miles east of the city. LaGuardia and Kennedy Airports both recorded 4.1 inches, and Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey saw 4.2 inches.
The heaviest snowfall recorded in the wider region was at Belleayre Mountain in the Catskills, where 13 inches fell, 120 miles northwest of New York City.
In the city, roads may get icy Saturday night, with temperatures forecast to dip to 21. On Sunday, a high of 40 degrees will melt much of the snow, and rain and a high of 51 on Monday will probably render most of it a Christmasy memory.
Heavy snow has been uncommon in New York City in recent years. Last winter, the city recorded barely over a foot for the season, an increase from 7.5 inches the previous winter and just 2.3 inches the winter before that. From February 2022 to January 2024, the city went nearly two full years without meaningful snowfall.
On Saturday morning in Clifton, snow fell lightly as residents worked to clear their driveways. Vicente Longinos, a landscaper with clients in the area, pushed a small barrel that dispensed salt as it rolled. “We’re on the go nonstop,” he said in Spanish.
In Fort Greene Park, in Brooklyn, children of all ages and sizes were rocketing down a powder-covered hill on snowboards, sleds and plastic saucers, while their parents snapped photos from the sidelines.
A few blocks away, Earl Smith was the first one on his block out shoveling the walkway in front of his brownstone.
“My neighbors always laugh at me,” Mr. Smith, 67, said as he shook rock salt out of a plastic tub onto an already immaculate rectangle of sidewalk. “Soon as I see snow or I hear it’s going to snow, I’ll put salt out here.”
The block where Mr. Smith and his wife, Darlene Smith, have lived for more than 30 years was picture-worthy, with soft snow draped over a row of trees that lead to the park.
Ms. Smith, stepping outside for a quick peek, didn’t share her husband’s enthusiasm. “I hate snow,” she said.
Gabe Castro-Root, Sean Piccoli , Kieran Corcoran and Jacob Amaro contributed reporting.
Christopher Maag is a reporter covering the New York City region for The Times.
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