Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Year : 1, Issue : 19
Snow blanketed New York City late Monday night, leaving behind icy streets and sidewalks for the morning commute. By 7 a.m. Tuesday, Central Park recorded 1 inch of accumulation on the ground — finally breaking the streak that lasted more than 700 days.
Snow could be seen piling up on cars and park benches along the Upper West Side. Another video showed even more snow over in Fresh Meadows, Queens.
CBS New York’s Elijah Westbrook spoke with commuters as they tried to make their way around town early Tuesday morning.
“I just love it, very nice,” one person said. “Especially the first day, it’s not even slippery. Tomorrow is going to be a problem, if it snows a lot.”
“I don’t like it,” said another. “Not at all.”
“Sliding all over the place. Looks nice when we have snow for a little while,” another added.’
The city activated its Winter Weather Emergency Plan, meaning departments like Sanitation were fully staffed and had more crews on standby.
Officials said 800 salt spreaders were ready to respond, and 2,000 garbage trucks had been turned into plows.
“Our Sanitation workers dropped 40 million pounds of salt on every street, bike lane and highway in New York City last night,” Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch told CBS New York early Tuesday morning. “They’re going to continue all day today, they’re working 12-hour shifts, and they’re going to keep spreading until the precipitation ends. We’re expecting cold temperatures later on today, so we don’t want to have any flash freezing on our roads.”
Alternate side parking is suspended Tuesday for storm cleanup, but New York City public schools remain open as scheduled.
Meanwhile in Westchester County, Yonkers schools will be closed Tuesday, along with the Chappaqua Central School District.