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New York (AFP) – Winter in New York is inconceivable without the traditional images of Central Park and Times Square under the snow. But it has not been the case this year, which is about to set several records for the longest period without snow in the Big Apple.
Despite the strong storms that hit the north of the state hard in December, the metropolis is still waiting for its first snowflake.
This Sunday marks the 50th anniversary since the first snowfall of the season was made to wait as long as this year.
In 1973, New Yorkers didn’t see snow until January 29, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
And the city is also about to complete the longest period of days without snow: the current record is 332 days and this Sunday it is already 326 days without being covered in white, so this year could go down in history as the longest period without snow since there are records, in 1869.
In the Big Apple it usually starts to snow in mid-December. In 2021, we had to wait until Christmas.
Something unusual that disturbs the inhabitants whose love/hate relationship with snow is usually quite complicated
“It’s very sad,” Anne Hansen, a retired teacher, told AFP. “Usually, we don’t like it when it snows. But now we miss it bitterly.”
Students and employees love snow days because it allows them to stay home. The kids get out their sleds and the adults strap on their cross-country skis heading to Central Park.
“We stay at home, we drink hot chocolate and the dog loves it,” film director Renata Romain told AFP.
But he qualifies: “the snow is beautiful the first day, then it becomes dirty, it melts and it is a bit disgusting.”
Meteorologists define snowfall in New York City as at least 0.1 inch (one-quarter centimeter) falling in Central Park. So some isolated flakes don’t count.
“It’s very rare,” Nelson Vaz, a meteorologist, confirms to AFP, who remembers the recent cold waves. In Buffalo, in the north of the state, a meter of snow fell in December, causing the death of 39 people.
But in New York, 600 kilometers to the south, this historic storm that froze part of the country around Christmas time turned into heavy rain and abnormally high temperatures.
You have to go back as far as 1932 to find a warmer start to January than this year, according to Weather.com.
© 2023 AFP
