Unlike last year, LI's forecast not bad

"A blizzard blasted Long Island through the night, paralyzing airlines and slowing train and road traffic on a traditionally frantic shopping and travel day."

That, astute Newsday readers will observe, is last year's news, literally. The blizzard dumped more than a foot of snow on parts of Long Island.

If you stick your head out the door today, you'll find pretty nice weather. It's likely to stay this way for the next week, with daytime temperatures in the 40s through New Year's Day.

"The pattern we're in is keeping all the cold air bottled up in the north," said meteorologist Adrienne Leptich at the National Weather Service station in Upton. "It doesn't look as if this is going to break for the next seven to 10 days, and we'll continue to see above-normal temperatures."

Rain may fall on the region toward the middle of the week, Leptich said. Still, "last year around this time, we were putting out blizzard warnings," she said. She added that she was at the forecasting center for 36 hours. "You couldn't really go anywhere."

Meanwhile, New York City's Comptroller's Office has released a partial accounting for claims filed against the city in connection with thatafter-Christmas blizzard of 2010 that dumped up to 2 feet of snow on the city. New York is on the hook for more than $1.8 million.

That's the settlement amount for 620 of 1,196 claims. The remaining claims are being investigated or were dismissed. Comptroller John Liu said the claims were among the highest for any storm.

Among the largest settlements was $150,000 for a man who said he slipped and fell in a parking lot that became snowy and icy after it was improperly shoveled by the city, the comptroller's office said.

Another $100,000 went to a Brooklyn cemetery where headstones were damaged after snow dumped against a fence caused it to collapse.With AP