Long Island emerges from historic blizzard, rattled but standing

A massive blizzard dumped nearly 30 inches of snow and had Long Islanders shoveling out Monday, while town and transit officials said it could be late Tuesday before the region was close to normal.

For much of Monday, Long Island appeared to exist in suspended animation — normally bustling roads were close to empty, airports turned passengers away and schools either closed or switched to remote learning. The region’s doctors and emergency dispatchers said that they began to see more patients before the snow stopped falling.

The unofficial snow total broke the 27.8-inch record set in 2013 at Long Island MacArthur Airport, according to the National Weather Service.

After travel bans for part of Monday in Suffolk and Nassau counties, highways and most major streets were expected to be clear by Tuesday’s morning rush hour, according to AAA Northeast, but town supervisors warned that some residential streets might not reopen until Tuesday afternoon. Long Island MacArthur, Kennedy and LaGuardia airports were resuming service late Monday after thousands of canceled flights earlier in the day.

LIRR resuming service

The Long Island Rail Road announced it would resume service Tuesday on six of its busiest branches after the storm shutdown the entire system.

LIRR president Robert Free told Newsday he'd rarely seen anything like the storm, which began Sunday and gained strength into Monday.

"I’ve been here 34 years, and this is one of the worst storms that I’ve seen," Free said.

By late Monday, roughly 2,601 customers remained without power, down from more than 15,000 earlier in the day, according to PSEG Long Island's website.

Meanwhile, dozens of school districts were scheduled to be closed or teaching remotely Tuesday. The National Weather Service said more snow could hit the area Tuesday through Thursday, though accumulations were expected to be lower than what Long Island just experienced.

'Blizzard of 26'

"The blizzard of ‘26 will be remembered in meteorology circles," said Jase Bernhardt, an assistant professor in the Department of the Geology, Environment and Sustainability at Hofstra University. For starters, it appeared to have set a record for the area for snowfall in a single event, with 29.1 inches of snow recorded at 1 p.m. at MacArthur Airport.

Like many winter storms that have resulted in paralyzingly heavy snowfall across the Northeast United States in the past, the blizzard hit what’s known as the "70/40 benchmark," Bernhardt said.

That’s 40 degrees north latitude and 70 degrees west longitude, geographic coordinates for a spot over the Atlantic Ocean: "That’s the sweet spot. Say it tracks 50 miles south and east, that means the heaviest snow shifts farther away. If it tracks closer, oftentimes, it’s bringing in warm air closer to the center [of the storm], and if it tracks too close, it might yield heavy precipitation, but it’s going to be too warm for all snow."

In this case, the "sweet spot" brought hurricane-force winds, low visibility and heavy, wet snow to most of Long Island. Joe Gaviola, the lighthouse keeper at the Montauk Point Lighthouse, said the winds hit 88 mph Monday morning, so powerful, "I felt my residence shaking ... I've lived up here for a while, I've lived through Nor'easters, hurricanes, others snowstorms, but this was the most intense I remember in my life. It not only hit with hurricane-force winds, but the snow was heavy and wet ... The energy of this was a force that I haven't felt before."

Travel ban extended

Late Monday afternoon, one town supervisor, Jerry Halpin of Riverhead, said he was extending the town’s travel ban until 6 a.m. Tuesday. There have been several instances of vehicles stuck in drifting snow, he said, particularly north of Route 25.

"It’s still incredibly dangerous to be out there," Halpin said. "People are going to think the road looks good, but it’s not worth it."

Halpin said the town’s highway department has utilized "every truck" available to plow the snow.

"They spent most of the morning trying to keep the main roads open for EMS and fire," he said.

Hospitals were just as busy.

"The biggest one and the most major thing that we see is an increase in the number of heart attacks right after a storm," said Dr. Peter McKenna, medical director of the emergency department at Stony Brook Hospital. "People go outside into the cold and they shovel heavy snow, and it's the most physical activity that they've done all year. And they kind of fail their own stress test."

Heart attack concerns

Tuesday, "when people go back to their routines, we’ll see a lot more patients," said Dr. Frederick Davis, executive vice chair of emergency medicine at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park.

Long Island Jewish already has seen a few slip and falls, with wrist and knee injuries, Davis said. As more vehicles go back on the road, Davis expects to see some accident injuries, as well as people complaining of chest pains after shoveling. The hospital typically sees only a heart attack or two each snow season, but the chest pains may be a sign of narrowing arteries that could eventually lead to a heart attack, he said.

The emergency department also typically sees an increase in cases like people with kidney disease with complications because the snow prevented them from getting to their dialysis appointments, he said.

In Shirley, children rejoiced at a snow day, firefighters dug out to respond to emergencies and motorists shoveled their vehicles free. 

Firefighters at the Ridge Fire Department Company 2 in Shirley plowed their parking lot before they could answer about eight fire and medical emergencies since the storm hit Sunday according to Lt. John DeVito Jr.

Outside their house nearby, Jake Mazzarella, 12, and his brother Lucas, 9, sped down a snow path in plastic sliding discs.

Their mother said a snowblower carved the path for that very purpose.

"Now it's time for relaxing, having some fun and enjoying the snow day," Shelly Mazzarella said.

It wasn't as much fun for Mark Perez, 29, of Mastic, and Angel Mendez, 35, of Centereach on Monday. They were attempting to free Mendez’s pickup truck mired in snow on Stratler Drive after lending a hand.

"We’re just being of service and helping out a neighbor," Mendez said. "Now we’re stuck, but it’s all good."

After 15 or so minutes of shoveling and pushing, Mendez’s two-wheel drive GMC Yukon was moving once again.