RONKONKOMA – In response to the blizzard, Suffolk County issued a travel ban beginning 9:00p.m. Sunday through 9:00a.m. Monday. The ban does not apply to essential workers and plow operators. Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) declared a state of emergency on 2:00p.m. Sunday. The County number 311 will be available for assistance; dial 911 for emergencies.
Additionally, the Suffolk County Transit Service will shut down at 4:00p.m. and service will remain suspended on Monday. The schedule is scheduled to resume on Tuesday with a 10:00a.m. delayed start, weather and road conditions permitting. The SCT website, Transit app, and X (@sctbusinfo) can be consulted for updates.
The Town of Smithtown issued a statement advising residents to not park in the streets and that municipal lots will be available. Residents are also advised to remove garbage bags, bins, and basketball hoops from curbside areas and to keep nearby fire hydrants clear of snow.
Costal flood watches from 12:00a.m. Sunday to 5:00a.m. Monday have been issued by the National Weather Service (NWS) for northern Long Island. Inundation of 1.5 to 2.5 feet above ground level is considered “likely” by the NWS. Within Suffolk, the entire towns of Huntington and Smithtown are on watch, anything south of the Long Island Expressway is not under the advisory. The zone extends to William Floyd Parkway (CR-46) from Shirley to East Shoreham.
The Northeastern U.S. is bracing for impact as a storm, unofficially named Winter Storm Hernando by The Weather Channel, of historic proportions made landfall around 12:00p.m. on Sunday.
What started as the current “will it, won’t it” question of impending snow quickly developed into a storm that might shatter single-day snowfall records.
Heavy, wet snow is expected to pick up through Sunday evening and the storm is expected to intensify throughout the night. Strong northeast wind gusts are projected to top 50 mph in some areas. Driving in these conditions are described as “nearly impossible.” While temperatures are expected to hover around the freezing point, the wind chill will contribute to lower-feeling temperatures – albeit not as brutal as the deep-freeze over the last month.
The State weather forecast, as of Friday, projected 20.3 inches of snowfall in Islip. The Town of Smithtown issued a statement expecting 16-20 inches of snow, with 18 projected for the Coram-Gordon Heights area.
Cross Country Weather, a social media-based national weather network covering all 50 states with local forecasts, found that the record single-day accumulation for Long Island is 23.5 inches, set on January 29, 2022, followed by the 23.4 inches delivered by the crippling blizzard of 2016. Bottoming out the top-ten is 15.6 inches, set on January 20, 1978.
If the 20.3-inch projection for Islip is accurate, this storm could be in the top-three largest single-day snowfall events on record for Long Island.
