Long Island roads mostly cleared but snow mountains, black ice present new problems

Most of Long Island’s major roads were cleared by late Tuesday morning following the historic nor’easter that dumped up to 30 inches of snow on parts of the region, but a spokesman for AAA Northeast urged motorists to continue to go slow and use caution.

Temperatures may be hovering around the freezing mark, but the brilliant sunshine that followed the storm melted some of the snow that fell on Long Island in recent days, creating patches of black ice on highways and roads.

"The moisture goes out onto the pavement," said AAA Northeast spokesman Robert Sinclair. "The pavement is below freezing, so that’s the formula for black ice. I would warn drivers to be very careful. Those patches of moisture that you see on the roadways could wind up being very, very slippery."

Police in Nassau and Suffolk said there were no major incidents as a result of the storm reported on Tuesday. Traffic was light on major thoroughfares during the morning rush hour, in part because of school closures, officials said.

The sunshine is not only contributing to black ice, Sinclair said. It is also causing a bright, blinding glare that will make it difficult to drive.

Many residential streets continue to be covered with snow and slush. In Patchogue, roads and parking lots retained a thin layer of snow as crews struggled with the sheer volume dumped in the community, Mayor Paul Pontieri said.

Pontieri said village streets were "passable," but added, "parking lots are another story."

"The speed and the volume of this storm, it made it almost impossible," he said, noting a five-foot-high mound of snow was piled in front of Village Hall on Terry Street. "These guys are now putting in 20-hour days, 18-hour days. It’s really tough."

Farmingdale Mayor Ralph Ekstrand said a crew of 10 plow drivers worked throughout the storm to clear the village's 23 miles of roads and nine parking lots.

The village, however, received complaints about high piles of snow piled up throughout the village.

"The biggest problem is: Where do you put 21 inches of snow?" Ekstrand said.

Oyster Bay's John Tassone, chief deputy commissioner of the Department of Public Works, said the town's 275 plow drivers first focused on making its 700 miles of residential roads passable for emergency vehicles and is now working on clearing roads curb to curb. Vehicles parked on the side of the street are creating challenges in that effort, he said.

"Before the end of the week, hopefully we're fully clear," Tassone said.

In Southold, Highway Superintendent Dan Goodwin sent crews home late Monday night after they battled whiteout conditions, stuck equipment and 10-for snow drifts for 30 hours.

Goodwin said the department on Tuesday focused on cleaning up drifting snow from farm roads, cleaning intersections and making additional passes down residential streets where snow may have piled up again after homeowners cleaned up their driveways.

The highway superintendent said it could take days to fully recover. Later in the week, the department may bring in dump trucks to remove large piles of snow from downtown areas, including Love Lane in Mattituck.

The Long Island Expressway and roads leading into Southampton were clear by Tuesday morning, but Montauk Highway and Hampton Road through downtown Southampton were still covered with icy, packed snow which made for slick conditions.

Southampton Village’s Highway Department is applying salt on roads "sparingly" due to a shortage, public works superintendent Stephen Phillips said in a message on social media.

The department will focus on salting main roads, including Hill Street, North Sea Road, and the roads surrounding Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, Phillips said in an interview.

Phillips said the highway department is expecting a salt delivery later today, but less than he ordered.

"Every street in the village is passable," he said. "The little bit of salt that I did put down on the main drags is starting to work, and [the ice] is all finally starting to melt."

A state of emergency in the village is in effect through Wednesday at 7 a.m. Southampton received 26 inches of snow during the storm, according to National Weather Service reports.

Additional snow is expected to fall on Wednesday morning before temperatures creep up above freezing later in the day, and Sinclair said he expects traffic will be much heavier as residents return to their routines. He urged drivers to go slow on Long Island highways and road.

"Give yourself lots of extra time," he said. "Go to bed early. Wake up early, and take it easy on the roads, because you have got a combination of factors that will make it dangerous — the melting snow and ice, the refreezing of the melting snow and ice."