NEW YORK – It took until February, but New York City finally saw its first snow of the season early Wednesday morning, ending a 328-day snowless streak that dated back to March 2022.
Until this winter, New Yorkers never had to wait this long to experience their first measurable snowfall of the season. The 50-year-old record for the latest first snow was initially broken Monday. In the winter of 1972-73, New York didn’t get any measurable snow until Jan. 29, when 1.8 inches finally coated the “city that never sleeps” with its first snow.
The record books have now been rewritten, with Feb. 1, 2023, the new threshold for New York City’s latest first snow. Weather observers at Central Park’s Belvedere Castle officially measured 0.4 inches of snowfall as of 6 a.m. EST Wednesday morning.
While there had already been a few occasional sightings of snowflakes in Manhattan this winter, the official measuring station in Central Park hadn’t observed at least 0.1 inches of snow until Wednesday, which is needed to be considered “measurable” snow and counted as a snowy day in the record books.
New York City’s 328-day snow drought was the second-longest stretch of days without measurable snow on record, coming up just four days short of the all-time longest snowless streak of 332 days set between Jan. 19 and Dec. 15 in 2020.
NEW YORK CITY ARGUABLY HAS THE MOST UNIQUE WEATHER OBSERVATIONS IN AMERICA
While long-range outlooks are indicating another cold snap toward the end of this week and the start of the weekend with temperatures dipping well below freezing, there doesn’t appear to be any moisture to match.
The FOX Forecast Center isn’t predicting any additional chances of precipitation until the middle of next week, and by then, temperatures will have once again warmed into the 40s and 50s to keep whatever falls as rain.