NEW YORK — A wind-whipped snowstorm pummeled the five boroughs on a frosty New York weekend, with whipping winds wreaking havoc on local airports Saturday as some New Yorkers grabbed shovels and others frolicked in the snow.
“It’s pretty big,” said Andrew Chan, 43, who was playing with his children at Madison Square Park as the snow continued to fall around midday. “This one seems unexpected.”
His daughter Kara, just 7, gave the falling snow a 1-to-10 rating of “100.”
On the other end of the snow spectrum was Akil Demmin, 37, who was shoveling away outside his Brooklyn home.
“I hate cleaning up snow, but you got to do what you got to do,” said the Canarsie resident. “It’s freezing out here. As soon as I finish up, I’m going to get back in the crib, get some hot chocolate and warm up.”
Coney Island reported 11 inches of snow throughout the day, as did Howard Beach in Queens, according to the National Weather Service. Nearly 10 inches fell in parts of Staten Island, and 7.5 inches were reported in Central Park.
On Long Island, a Suffolk County airport was blanketed with nearly 2 feet as the NWS reported blizzard conditions.
Mayor Eric Adams took a tour of the boroughs as the wintry weather continued, pausing only for a quick break to shovel the snow outside his Brooklyn home. He also flashed a thumbs-up while riding inside a city Sanitation Department truck.
“Be careful, bundle up,” Adams advised his chilly constituents. “It’s a good day to stay home if you don’t have to go out.”
The city’s chief executive joked that he intends to put a list together on the city’s website of great places to go sledding.
After the snow, temperatures were expected to drop to 14 degrees overnight — with a possible wind chill of minus 5 degrees into Sunday, the NWS said.
The deep freeze was expected to continue through least Tuesday, complicating the wintry cleanup, said Gov. Kathy Hochul. Overnight temperatures into Monday morning were expected to bottom out at about 18 degrees.
Hochul told a Midtown news conference that officials expected the snowfall buffeted by 50 miles per hour winds to dissipate by Saturday morning but the snow instead lingered into the afternoon.
Long Island residents were hit a lot harder as the blizzard pounded the area. By late afternoon, 16 inches had fallen in parts of Nassau County while the Long Island MacArthur Airport in Suffolk County was buried under more than 22 inches, the weather service reported.
Hochul, speaking as 1,800 plows cleared roads across the state, described Winter Storm Kenan a “classic N’oreaster.”
“This is a very serious storm,” she said. “It could be life threatening. But we’ve prepared for this.”
Con Ed reported only 580 power outages across the city by Saturday evening despite the frigid winter weather that left Brooklyn store owner Tyrone Peters a cold and lonely man.
“It’s dead today,” said Peters, owner of the Ideal Magic 99Cent store. “A regular Saturday is people just coming in and out, in and out, in and out. But today is like one person every 10, 20 minutes.”
The disappointed Peters, 45, said he arrived early to shovel the sidewalk in hopes of customers stocking up on rock salt or other items — only to find few buyers.
“I don’t like the snow,” he said. “I hate it. I’m a summer guy. I just can’t bear the cold, it’s too much.”
Pizza delivery worker Miguel Meija, 26, dutifully schlepped pies past the Empire State Building, with drivers locking up their brakes as he crossed 34th St.
“This storm is normal,” he said, glumly noting the bad weather led to only slightly bigger tips. “Every year it’s like this.”
But Ella Jewell, 26, who kept her Javanese pup Juno bundled up in her jacket as she took photos in Madison Square Park, was thrilled.
“It’s cold, and a lot of snow,” said the three-year Manhattan resident. “I’m from Tennessee, so it’s a little crazy for me but I love it.”
In an interview on 1010 WINS-AM, Adams said the city was handling the storm “very well.”
“It is just a well oiled machine with city employees,” he said. “They know what to do know and they know the plays we must call. Through our combined efforts we are going to ride this storm as smoothly as possible.”
Adams praised the efforts of city workers out in the cold and snow.
“We have the tools and we have the personnel and manpower,” he said. “They’re professionals and my goal is to just give support to those men and women on the front line that want to make sure tax payers are getting their money’s worth to get things done in the right way.”
The storm shut down city ferry service and forced cancellation of 76% of the flights at JFK Airport, while all departures from Newark Liberty International Airport were canceled Saturday morning.
Flights both in and out of LaGuardia Airport also were stymied, though MTA CEO Janno Lieber said bus and train lines in the city were nearly fully operational.
“Almost every station is (open),” he said during Hochul’s press conference. “We suspended temporarily the last stretch to the Rockaways, but otherwise the system is in full gear.”
The Long Island railroad and several MetroNorth lines were suspended, but were expected to reopen once the storm moves away and the shovels come out.
Hochul, who fondly remembered shoveling her neighbor’s homes as a child after big storms, plans to give Adams some tips on shoveling when she gets the chance.
“You don’t shovel with your hands,” she advised. “You shovel with your knees.”
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(The New York Daily News' Jessica Schladebeck contributed to this story.)
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