LI should be spared from more snow Tuesday

It may not compare to the winter George Washington and his troops faced at Valley Forge, but Long Islanders spent Presidents Day dealing with yet another annoyance in what's been a string of troublesome snowstorms this winter.

Centereach and Sound Beach racked up the most snow, 4.8 inches, the National Weather Service reported.

Garden City led Nassau County with 3.2 inches.

But forecasters said the worst is over - for now - predicting no snow accumulation Tuesday.

Long Island should not get past the freezing point, said meteorologist Joe Pollina at the NWS office in Upton. The low temperature Tuesday night should peak in the upper teens, he said.

Clear skies should rule the day Tuesday with highs in the upper 20s.

The snow blitz that struck Sunday dropped more than 7 inches to the north, south and west of Long Island.

That was significant enough to create treacherous road conditions during the morning rush hour, causing mostly minor fender-benders, police said, although some crashes forced brief road closures - an accident saw an overturned Jeep at the Long Island Expressway's Exit 49 at Route 110 in Melville.

The hardest-hit areas on Long Island were in Suffolk.

Port Jefferson got 4.6 inches, while Centerport, Coram, East Northport and Stony Brook all got 4.5, the weather service said.

Medford, Northport and Manorville all got at least 4 inches of snow. In Nassau, Plainview, Levittown and Bellerose all got at least 3 inches.

The Island was fortunate that early morning traffic was light because of the holiday Monday. Plows and salt trucks were on the Long Island Expressway in Suffolk County around 5:30 a.m.

The New York State Transportation Department website posted only two traffic alerts between 5 and 6:45 a.m., both single-car accidents in Nassau.

With Gary Dymski