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FORGOTTEN NEW YORK
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ForgottenFans in the Midwest and northern New England...you know who you are...will have to indulge your webmaster on this page, since while you folks have HAD actual winter this year (2008) New York City's has been bland and boring, with few cold snaps and even less snow...less than 4 inches total as of February 22.

That all changed today when NYC and environs were smashed with 6 to 10 inches, your webmaster's workplace, the Delhi of Direct Mail, called a snow day, and your webmaster grabbed a camera to record the scene.

No sooner had I went out the door to head to Zion Churchyard in Douglaston to record the muffled scenery that the precipitation changed to the dreaded Winter Mix. (Vicki says you bring the Chex Mix, not the Winter Mix to a party). Winter storms in the NYC area tend to peter out to rain because of the warming influence of the Atlantic Ocean, and so a city-crippling, vacation-inducing, state-emergency calling winter burial became just another slushfest. But I still got some photos.

From the front door of chez webmaster

In the apartment courtyard
Hard to see PS94
The LIRR ran a normal schedule

Blasts of Yesterday

The years 2002-2005 featured four consecutive winters in which NYC received 40 inches of snow or better from November to April and those years featured several of NYC's heaviest all-time snowstorms. 40 inches per winter is the benchmark of a big snow season in NYC, which receives an annual total of between 20-25 inches on average.

December 5, 2003, Grove and Bedford Streets, Greenwich Village. NYC received 8 inches of snow December 5, 2002 and followed it up the following year on December 5, 2003 with 8 more!

December 26, 2002. A heavy rainstorm on Christmas Day turned to heavy snow and NYC got between 8 and 10 inches.

From the corners of my mind: When I was at The World's Biggest Store, we worked Saturdays during the Christmas season, and Dec. 5th, 2003 was the day my boss screamed at me for some mickey-mouse transgression. They let us out early because of the weather and I got a lot of terrific pictures of the Village in the snow. These sort of mnemonics are how I remember what dates it snowed, but I have good snow memories anyway and it isn't a stretch for me to remember snowstorm dates.

From Flushing the day after the Christmas 2002 storm

On February 12th 2006 the observatory in Central Park recorded 26.9 inches of snow, the new modern record, beating out by a few tenths a December 26, 1947 storm. This is truly the hardest I have ever seen it snow. The above two were recorded in front of my former apartment on 159th Street in fab Flushing. At left is an apartment window after a bit of sleet mixed in and the snow started sticking on glass.

Other big ones: January 8-9, 1996, about 20 inches, and Presidents' Day 2003 when we had about 18 inches.

In both the 1996 and 2006 storms, I was watching the weather report and chortled with glee when the radar showed a massive wall of white advancing on NYC. "And it's all mine!" I thought.

Needless to say I don't drive a car.

With the hated winter mix changing to despised rain I headed home for a day of Mike and the Mad Dog on the radio and a bowl of Chunky soup. Sirloin Burger. Hamburger soup. Unexpected days off are always fun especially if you are getting paid for them.

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Page completed February 22, 2008

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