From the archives: Icy Hollow in Ridge

This story was originally published in Newsday on January 16, 2004

Taking a momentary break from plowing the parking lot of the Randall Square strip mall, James Speizio of Ridge waxed poetic about his hometown's notoriety.

"As long as I can remember," said Speizio, "It's always been known as Icy Hollow. It's definitely colder here."

Icy Hollow is Long Island folklore. You won't find it on a map. But when it comes to unusually cold temperatures, local meteorologists say, the area encompassing Ridge, Middle Island, Wading River, Rocky Point and the pine barrens is off the charts.

Weather forecasters stumbled on the phenomenon while conducting an atmospheric study during the '70s, said Victor Cassella, a meteorologist with the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton.

Meteorologists said it's, in part, caused by the sandy composition of the topography, which tends to cool rapidly, and the low-lying terrain, which acts as a valley and traps cooler air. The two combined with light wind conditions, which do not carry a mixture of hot air as do heavy winds, can cause temperatures to dip lower than the norm on Long Island - anywhere from 2 to 10 degrees, meteorologists added.

With yesterday's winds expected to gust up to 20 mph to 30 mph during this cold snap, Icy Hollow's temperatures were likely on par with the rest of the Island, meteorologists said. The lowest temperature there yesterday as of last night was 1 degree, as measured by the National Weather Service's automated observation system at Westhampton Airport.

However, for Speizio and other Ridge denizens it felt much colder.

Richard Cifaldi, his cheeks pink, was happy to be indoors at a video store in the Strathmore Commons shopping center. He was picking up a movie to share with his children, Laura, 8, and Joe, 11. The trio had been sledding in a nearby Middle Island wooded area.

"At certain low-lying spots in the woods where the ponds are, you can definitely feel the dip in temperatures," Cifaldi said, as Laura and Joe frolicked in a mountain of snow in the shopping center's Arctic-like parking lot.

Pizza deliverer Peter Rando said last weekend's temperature felt like what he imagines the North Pole feels like. "Thank goodness for pizza warmers," said Rando, whose pizza parlor is at the Randall Square strip mall. He was thankful for the flood of orders caused by the cold snap, he said, but his Volkswagen Fox was on the brink from the cold. It was "absolutely freezing," he said.