The National Weather Service (NWS) measured 4.6 centimeters of snow in Central Park, by far the most this season.
New York is usually covered in white at least a couple of times this season, but the mild temperatures that have prevailed this winter have kept it snow-free until now.
The flakes, which began Monday night, brought the cumulative total in Manhattan’s famed green lung to just 2.2 inches.
However, it did not last long. By midmorning, most of the snow had already turned to sleet, when the rain began to fall.
Several school districts closed Tuesday as the city braced for its first major snowfall of the season.
The city government’s emergency management office issued a warning in effect from 6:00 p.m. (2300 GMT) on Monday to 1:00 p.m. (6:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
New York tends to get its first major snow cover in mid-December.
Last season it came on Christmas Eve and this year only on February 1, when almost half an inch was recorded in Central Park, the latest record since measurements began in 1869.
Throughout this winter, while New York City and the surrounding Atlantic coastal areas have seen heavy rains, blizzards, some of them deadly, have struck a few hundred miles further north.
At least 39 people were killed when up to a meter of snow fell in Buffalo, New York state, near the Canadian border, in December.
New York City has never gone through an entire cold season without measurable snow. Scientists say climate change is making winters warmer and shorter.
