Snow blankets Long Island ahead of morning commute

Another winter storm greeted Long Island’s morning rush-hour commuters Friday, and with 3 to 5 inches of snow in the forecast, it was making for slow and hazardous road conditions.

The fast-moving winter storm is expected to last through the morning commute, ending between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. over most of Long Island, the National Weather Service in Upton said.

At 5 a.m., 1.9 inches had been recorded at Islip, said Lauren Nash, a meteorologist with the service.

Nash said the service’s forecast appears to be “on track,” with the heaviest snow, perhaps in the 7-inch range, projected for the North Fork. Also, depending on the track of the storm, heavy snow could cover parts of eastern Suffolk County, she said.

“It will taper off west to east, so it might be a little later on Long Island,” she said of the storm’s morning end.

Many secondary roads still were blanketed with snow at around 5 a.m. A stretch of the Long Island Expressway, westbound between Exit 64 and Exit 53, was being cleared by plows as early as 5 a.m., but visibility was at a half-mile or less, according to the weather service, as traffic moved slowly — in some cases 30 mph or less — west of the Sagtikos Parkway.

Nash said that drivers likely would be in for a tough commute and advised them to “be careful.”

SEE PHOTOSSnowstorms that buried LI over the past 100-plus years

The state Department of Transportation website had just one traffic alert, at 5:06 a.m., for a disabled vehicle at Exit 43, S. Oyster Bay Road, in the west lanes of the Expressway in Nassau County. That issue was resolved at 5:38 a.m.

Traffic cameras at the site showed the major thoroughfares, including the Northern State and Southern State parkways, with snow-covered roads and slow-moving traffic.

The Long Island Rail Road expected a normal morning commute, and as of 6 a.m. had just one canceled train, on the Babylon branch because of an equipment problem, according to an alert from the commuter service.

The LIRR did issue a memo to commuters, urging all customers to take extra care when traveling.

“ ... all MTA agencies have activated winter weather plans to keep tracks and platforms clear and safe,” said spokesman Aaron Donovan in the memo. “... Please allow extra time for travel during the storm and check mta.info for the latest service updates.”