Note: Additional storm summaries are gradually being added to this page. This page will undergo significant changes later in the summer
Current page: 2011-13 Storm Summaries
2010 Storm Summaries
-----------------------------------------------------------
Summaries of previous storms in the New York City area can be found in this page starting on March 31, 2010, which will sometimes include radar images of the storms. Each year is separated into two lists; the first list is for the notable events, and the second and shorter list is for the less notable events.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
List of notable events:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
June 13-14, 2013 Heavy Rain
Full Storm Summary June 13 Storm Updates
An unusually strong non-tropical low pressure for June affected the Northeast on June 13-14, 2013, following tropical storm Andrea and another low pressure earlier in the same week that brought Central Park to near record June rainfall. While impacts from this storm were less significant than originally expected, it managed to produce another 1-3 inches of rain in the Northeast and a widespread severe weather outbreak in the Mid Atlantic region. (Completed 6/26)
-----------------------------------------------------------
June 6-8, 2013 Tropical Storm Andrea
Full Storm Summary June 7-8 Storm Updates
On June 5, Tropical Storm Andrea, the first named storm of the 2013 Atlantic hurricane season, formed in the Gulf of Mexico. Andrea made landfall in Florida on June 7 as a strong tropical storm, and continued up the East Coast while transitioning into a post-tropical storm. Combined with another low pressure that produced rain on June 6 through early June 7, the system produced widespread heavy rain and flooding along the East Coast with widespread 3-5 inch totals across the region. (Completed 6/26)
-----------------------------------------------------------
March 6-8, 2013 Snowstorm
A full storm summary will be added soon.
Mar 6-8 Storm Updates
A significant snowstorm affected the region in two parts in this time frame, with a coastal storm staying south of the area on March 6 and an inverted trough producing heavy snow on March 7-8. The first round of the storm was expected to produce light to moderate snowfall but underperformed, while the second part overperformed with widespread moderate-heavy snow. Snow totals ended up between 4-10 inches in north NJ, NYC and LI, and 8-16 inches in SE NY and southern CT. (Partially completed 6/26)
-----------------------------------------------------------
February 8-9, 2013 Blizzard
Full Storm SummaryFeb 8-9 Storm Updates
The first major blizzard since January 2011 affected the region on February 8-9, 2013, as two low pressures, one in the interior and another off the coast, affected the region. This combination brought heavy snowfall for the area, with the worst of the storm focused over Long Island into southern New England where blizzard conditions were observed with snow totals over 18-24 inches. In the area, 8 to 16 inches of snow fell west of NYC, with 16 to 32 inches, locally as high as 40 inches, in Long Island and southern CT. (Completed 7/10)
-----------------------------------------------------------
December 29 Snowstorm
A full storm summary will be added soon.
A full storm summary will be added soon.Dec 29 Storm Updates
After a warmer and drier than average start to December, two winter storms affected the region on December 26 and 29. On the 29th, two areas of low pressure simultaneously tracked northeast, one in the Ohio Valley, and another near the coast, with the coastal low becoming dominant while producing heavy snow for eastern Long Island and CT. Snow totals generally ranged from 2 to 5 inches from NYC and north/west and 4 to 10 inches east of NYC. (Partially completed 7/10)
-----------------------------------------------------------
November 7-8 Snowstorm
Full Storm Summary Nov. 7 Storm Updates
For the second year in a row, the NYC area was affected by an unusually early snowstorm with significant accumulations for parts of the area. A nor'easter developed late on 11/6, moving up the coast the following day with moderate to heavy snow focusing over the immediate NYC area, Connecticut and central/western Long Island. Total accumulations were generally between 5-10 inches in south central/SW CT, locally up to 13-14"; 3-7 inches in NE NJ; 2-7" in NYC, and 3-8" in central/western LI. (Partially completed 6/26)
-----------------------------------------------------------
October 29-31 Hurricane Sandy
Full Storm SummaryHurricane Sandy Updates
A little more than year after being hit with hurricane Irene, the NYC area was hit with an even stronger cyclone as hurricane Sandy transitioned into a massive extratropical low as it took an unusual SE to NW track, making landfall in New Jersey. Rain amounts were relatively insignificant, but very strong winds were observed with gusts reaching 60 to 85 mph across most of the area, with gusts in the 70-90 mph range in Long Island. The highest gusts were 96 mph in Eatons Neck and 90 mph in Islip, NY. Sandy resulted in a historic storm surge that brought water levels at the Battery to a record 13.88 feet, devastating many coastal locations including NYC with flooding.
-----------------------------------------------------------
July 26, 2012 MCS/Severe Weather
July 26 Storm UpdatesThe biggest severe weather outbreak of the year in the region so far affected the NYC area on July 26. A very rare Northeast US Day 2 Moderate Risk was issued by SPC (Storm Prediction Center) in advance, with some models showing a MCS over the NYC area almost a day in advance. The day started out with morning storms affecting mainly places from NYC and north/west, with locally heavy rain in northern NJ. Following the early storms, rapid clearing in the cloud cover took place with temperatures warming up into the low 90s, which along with humidity resulted in a heat index close to 100 degrees.
-----------------------------------------------------------
April 22-23, 2012 Heavy Rain/Wind
After several unusually dry months with a drought developing across the region, the first significant storm since early December affected the region with heavy rain further east and wet snow in western Pennsylvania as an amplified coastal low moved north through NYC. Steady light to moderate rain fell during the first half of the day, with heavy rain and wind developing by the evening hours as the low pressure approached. By the second half of the overnight hours, the rain ended, although the wind continued.
Rain totals generally ended up between 2.5 and 3.5 inches in Long Island and NYC, 2-4 inches in southern CT, and 1.5 to 3 inches in northern NJ/SE NY. Windy conditions were observed as well, with a peak gust of 54 mph in La Guardia airport and 40-50 mph across most of Long Island.
Rain totals generally ended up between 2.5 and 3.5 inches in Long Island and NYC, 2-4 inches in southern CT, and 1.5 to 3 inches in northern NJ/SE NY. Windy conditions were observed as well, with a peak gust of 54 mph in La Guardia airport and 40-50 mph across most of Long Island.
-----------------------------------------------------------
January 21, 2012 Snowstorm
A full storm summary will be added soon.
Jan 21 Storm Updates
The only notable snow event of the winter of 2011-12 took place on January 21, when a weak, fast moving low pressure spread moderate to locally heavy snow across the northern Mid Atlantic and southern New England. Snow accumulations of 2 to 5 inches were generally observed except for southern Connecticut, where totals locally as high as 8-12 inches were recorded. The next widespread notable snow event did not take place until November 2012. (Partially completed 7/10)
-----------------------------------------------------------
December 6-8, 2011 Heavy Rain / Wind
A more detailed storm summary will be added soon.
A more detailed storm summary will be added soon.
A stalled cold front followed by a fast moving coastal low pressure brought yet another heavy rain event to the area, breaking LaGuardia's annual rain record and bringing Central Park closer to its record. The coastal low brought moderate to heavy rain on December 7th, with totals ending up between 2 and 3 inches in northern NJ, SE NY and southern CT, near to slightly below 2 inches in NYC, and 1 to 2 inches in Long Island. Light snow accumulations of 1-2 inches were observed in parts of NW NJ and Orange county. Very strong wind gusts were observed as well, reaching 40-50 mph in NYC and 50-65 mph across most of Long Island, where a peak gust of 69 mph was observed.
-----------------------------------------------------------
October 29-30 Heavy Snow
-----------------------------------------------------------
August 27-28 Hurricane Irene
Hurricane Irene moved up the Mid Atlantic coast on August 27-28, making landfall in NYC in the morning of 8/28 as a strong tropical storm. Irene produced strong wind gusts in the 40-65 mph range across most of the area, with a peak gust of 91 mph reported in Suffolk county. A lot of rain fell as well which resulted in widespread flooding, with a general 4-7 inches in NYC, 6-10 inches in northern NJ, 4-7 inches in SE NY, and much more variable amounts in Long Island/S CT, from 3/4 inch further east to as much as 6-7 inches closer to NYC.
-----------------------------------------------------------May 15-21 Rain Event
May 17 Storm Updates
May 18 Storm Updates
A very slow moving pattern across the United States through the first half of May brought an active week of rain to the area. Prior to May 15, the area was stuck under a high pressure, with a low pressure to the east in the Atlantic and a slow moving low pressure in the north central US. This resulted in a week long stretch of sunshine and seasonable temperatures. The low pressure in the central US then slowly moved towards the area, bringing almost a week of rain.
On May 15, the low pressure entered Pennsylvania, bringing widespread rain to the Northeast, and some thunderstorms into the area, especially in the immediate NYC area. The low pressure was then forced southeast, and on May 16 became a cut off low pressure over North Carolina. During May 17-18, this low pressure moved northwest towards West Virginia, bringing a surge of moisture into the Mid Atlantic focusing over the area, a set up for a long duration heavy rain event. On May 17, the rain kept mostly dissipating just offshore due to subsidence, but on May 18, more heavy rain affected the area. Scattered storms affected the western parts of the area between May 19-21 as the low pressure slowly moved towards the area, finally moving offshore on May 21.
This was a long duration rain event, meaning that the heavy rain totals came gradually, not all at once. Below is a list of the rain totals across the area from May 15-21 from the National Weather Service:
New Jersey
4.14" - Teterboro (Bergen)
4.03" - Newark (Essex)
3.62" - Sussex
New York
5.31" - White Plains (Westchester)
4.22" - Central Park
3.83" - Montgomery (Orange)
3.24" - Montauk (Long Island)
2.93" - Islip (Long Island)
Connecticut
3.79" - Bridgeport
3.01" - New Haven
2.73" - New London
May 18 Storm Updates
A very slow moving pattern across the United States through the first half of May brought an active week of rain to the area. Prior to May 15, the area was stuck under a high pressure, with a low pressure to the east in the Atlantic and a slow moving low pressure in the north central US. This resulted in a week long stretch of sunshine and seasonable temperatures. The low pressure in the central US then slowly moved towards the area, bringing almost a week of rain.
On May 15, the low pressure entered Pennsylvania, bringing widespread rain to the Northeast, and some thunderstorms into the area, especially in the immediate NYC area. The low pressure was then forced southeast, and on May 16 became a cut off low pressure over North Carolina. During May 17-18, this low pressure moved northwest towards West Virginia, bringing a surge of moisture into the Mid Atlantic focusing over the area, a set up for a long duration heavy rain event. On May 17, the rain kept mostly dissipating just offshore due to subsidence, but on May 18, more heavy rain affected the area. Scattered storms affected the western parts of the area between May 19-21 as the low pressure slowly moved towards the area, finally moving offshore on May 21.
This was a long duration rain event, meaning that the heavy rain totals came gradually, not all at once. Below is a list of the rain totals across the area from May 15-21 from the National Weather Service:
New Jersey
4.14" - Teterboro (Bergen)
4.03" - Newark (Essex)
3.62" - Sussex
New York
5.31" - White Plains (Westchester)
4.22" - Central Park
3.83" - Montgomery (Orange)
3.24" - Montauk (Long Island)
2.93" - Islip (Long Island)
Connecticut
3.79" - Bridgeport
3.01" - New Haven
2.73" - New London
-----------------------------------------------------------
April 16 Heavy Rain/Wind
A strong low pressure system which produced a widespread tornado outbreak across the southern US reached the region on April 16, bringing a widespread and deadly tornado outbreak in North Carolina and widespread heavy rain further north into New Jersey. Rainfall amounts ended up between 1 and 2 inches east of NYC, and most places west of NYC saw 2 to 4 inches of rain, with lighter amounts in NW New Jersey. In addition to the rain, strong wind gusts were observed, ending up between 40-55 mph.
-----------------------------------------------------------
March 23-24 Snowstorm
An unusually strong arctic air mass for late March affected the Northeast, which combined with a weak low pressure sliding ESE and interacting with the strong cold air, produced a late season snowstorm for the NYC area. Just two days after a warm front brought several inches of snow to NW NJ, this low pressure brought another round of heavy snow, starting in the morning of March 23 when a band of heavy snow set up from NW NJ into NYC.
Throughout the afternoon hours, occasional wet snow and sleet fell across the area. By the evening, strong thunderstorms in Pennsylvania moved east and brought a wide range of mixed precipitation, including rain, snow, sleet, hail, and thunderstorms, into most of the area. Once this round ended, a surprise round of moderate snow developed across the entire area overnight on the back edge of the storm, bringing additional accumulations, even in NYC itself. Total accumulations were 1 inch in NYC, 1-2 inches in Long Island/S CT, 2 to 4 inches in NE NJ, and 4 to as much as 10 inches snow in NW NJ.
-----------------------------------------------------------
March 6 and 10-11 Heavy Rain/Flooding
Two consecutive storms brought heavy rainfall across most of the area, resulting in flooding especially northwest of New York City. The first storm moved through on March 6, bringing a soaking steady moderate to heavy rainfall throughout most of the day. Rain started in the morning hours and steadily intensified in intensity throughout the afternoon hours. The heaviest rain fell west of NYC, with a total of 2-5 inches of rain in northern NJ/SE NY. New York City saw 2 inches, southern CT had 1.5 to 4 inches, and Long Island had 3/4 to 2 inches.
The second storm affected the area on March 10 through early March 11, as a negatively tilted low pressure moved NW from southern Virginia into western Pennsylvania. During most of the day on March 10th, waves of moderate to occasionally heavy rain affected NYC and further west, while places east of NYC were mostly dry. Heavy rain continued west of NYC until the early overnight hours as the rain shifted east, finally reaching Long Island/S CT in the early morning hours. Totals were near 3 to 6 inches in northern NJ/SE NY, 2-3 inches in NYC, and 1/4 to 1.25 inches in Long Island/S CT. Both of these storms, when combined, resulted in widespread flooding across northern New Jersey and SE NY.
-----------------------------------------------------------
February 1-2 Snow/Ice Storm
A low pressure moving into the Ohio Valley, then into the Northeast followed by a coastal low off the coast of New Jersey produced a major ice storm for the area. The first round of the storm on the morning of February 1 brought between 1 and 4 inches of snow/sleet as well as up to 0.2 inch of freezing rain. Overnight, sleet and freezing rain moved in, with the sleet accumulating up to 1-2 inches in the northern parts of the area and preventing a major freezing rain event, while the central and eastern parts of the area saw significant freezing rain amounts, generally between 0.2 to as much as 0.7 inch.
-----------------------------------------------------------
January 26-27 Heavy Snow
Brief Storm Summary
January 26-27 Storm Updates
A low pressure that moved up the coast produced yet another historic snowstorm for the immediate NYC area. An unexpected round of snow in the morning of January 26 brought between 1.5 to 4.5 inches of snow to the area, which was followed by light snow with some sleet mixing during the afternoon hours. By the evening into the overnight hours, the second and bigger part of the storm moved in, with some sleet for NYC and rain for Long Island changing over to heavy snow, with rates as high as 3 to 4 inches per hour. Snow totals were between 10 and 20 inches for most of the area except for the western parts of the area, which saw 4 to 10 inches of snow.
January 11-12 Heavy Snow
A low pressure that rapidly developed off the coast of New Jersey brought heavy snowfall to much of the area. While places west of New York City saw up to 10 inches at most, the heaviest bands set up in west/central Long Island and Connecticut, with Long Island seeing anywhere from 6 to 19 inches of snow, and almost all of southern Connecticut seeing over a foot of snow. North Haven had the biggest storm total in the tri-state area with 30.5 inches.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
List of less notable events:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
January 21, 2012 Snow Event
Information about this event will be added soon.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Two separate low pressures brought two severe weather outbreaks into parts of the area, notable for producing a tornado in the area as well as some large hail. The first outbreak on July 29 was associated with a weak cold front as the area was in the northern edge of a very warm air mass, which brought excessive heat from Maryland and further south. Widespread storms approached the area in the late afternoon, with the strongest storms mostly affecting Orange-Westchester counties and in western Long Island. One EF-1 tornado was confirmed in Goshen, NY (Orange County), and a microburst was confirmed in Ossining, NY (Westchester County).
On
August 1, a cut off low in Canada drifted southeast towards Maine,
bringing a cold front through the region. Scattered thunderstorms formed
in New York and Pennsylvania and began to move southeast. Northern New
Jersey was not affected by the storms and stayed dry, but the worst of
the storms took place in Westchester, Queens and western Nassau
counties, where stationary severe thunderstorms dumped heavy rainfall,
resulting in flooding, and produced large hail as well, up to 3 inches
in Westchester/Nassau and 2.75 inches in Queens. More storms continued
to affect these areas through the evening before dissipating overnight.
-----------------------------------------------------------
February 21, 2011 Snow Event
A late winter snow event affected the area, with a weak wave of low pressure sliding ESE across the region bringing 2 to 7 inches of snow in most of southern Connecticut, 4 to 8 inches in northern New Jersey/SE NY, and 2 to 5 inches in NYC/Long Island.
-----------------------------------------------------------
January 7-8, 2011 Inverted Trough / Coastal Storm
An inverted trough set up on Friday, January 7, first quickly moving through eastern Pennsylvania, then slowing down significantly once reaching the area. Most of Long Island failed to see over 3 inches of snow, with 2 to 6 inches of snow in northern New Jersey. SW Connecticut had the heaviest snowfall, with as much as 15.5 inches of snow in Southbury. Amounts over a foot of snow were isolated, and the band later reached SE Connecticut, bringing 3 to 8 inches of snow.
A coastal low the following day mainly stayed to the south and east of the area, but still managed to bring as much as 6 inches of snow in eastern Long Island.
-----------------------------------------------------------Click here for 2010 Storm Summaries
