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NASA published the above satellite photo of this week's massive storm over North America as another huge system over Australia is being called the worst cyclone in that country's recorded history. Meanwhile the wingnuts are chortling all over Twitter as to how this winter's U.S. storms are "the final nail in the coffin of global warming." Science, they don't has it.
This winter's record 59 inches of snow has generated an issue seen more frequently in other cities than in New York - parking spot wars over dug out spaces. Some folks say that if they go through the back-breaking work of clearing a spot in front of their building, they are perfectly free to block that space with garbage cans until their return. Others say, bullshit, a space is a space and that there's no such things as "dibs" on a public street. Folks who move the "dibs" markers often return to find that the contents of that garbage can are now on the roof of their car. According to news reports, there have been quite a few fistfights in the last few days.
NYC Mayor Bloomberg this morning announced the closure of all city offices and made the very rare move of announcing a snow day for public schools after almost two feet of white stuff clobbered the city in the last 24 hours. By the way, thundersnow sounds rilly, rilly weird.
"New York City almost never takes a snow day, but today is one of those rare days," the mayor said in a statement. This storm was the eighth-largest in city history. Central Park received 19 inches of snow overnight, in addition to the four inches that fell on Wednesday. Other totals include 18 inches in Pelham Parkway House in the Bronx; 13 inches in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn; 17.3 inches in LaGuardia Airport and 10.3 inches in John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens; and 16 inches in Eltingville, Staten Island. All parking rules have been suspended for Thursday as a result of the storm. As fast-falling snow clogged city streets, the MTA suspended bus service throughout the five boroughs at 12:25 a.m. The MTA's decision came on the heels of numerous reports throughout the city of buses being stuck in the hard-to-navigate snowy conditions.Some subway lines are running with local service only and bus service is expected to resume in some parts of Queens this morning. With 39" so far, this is now the snowiest January in NYC history. The previous record from 1927 was 27.4 inches. If you're home today, Gothamist has a list of where to go sledding.
[Photo Via]
CNN notes that snow is currently on the ground in 49 out of 50 states. Only Florida has escaped.
After big snow and ice events in the Southeast, Plains, and Midwest this week, 49 out of the 50 states currently have snow on the ground – yes, even Hawaii, where snow falls in Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea all winter. The only state that has avoided this icy blast is Florida. Does that make you want to go on a nice, warm vacation to the Sunshine State? You're not alone. Put another way, that means snow is present in 69.4 percent of the lower 48, which is more than double than December. This is extremely unusual, though it's hard to put a date on when this last happened because records aren't kept on this kind of event.(Via - Towleroad)
At least it won't be as bad as the Boxing Day Blizzard. I really need to get some rubber boots this year.
