By ROBERT D. McFADDEN
Published: February 13, 2006
The biggest winter storm in New York City history — destined for lionization
as the Blizzard of '06 — buried the region and much of the Northeast
yesterday under blowing, drifting, thigh-high snows that crippled
transportation and commerce, knocked out power and disrupted life for
millions in 14 states.
After two months of humbug winter, the region awoke to a milk-white morning
and an awesome storm that exceeded all forecasts, with snowfalls that
transformed straw-drab landscapes into February postcards and brought out
skiers, sledders and other wonderlanders.
Plows were out in force, too, and working around the clock. But there was so
much snow that only major arteries were expected to be open for the start of
the work week today, and officials forecast sluggish commuting for anyone who
failed to take mass transit. Schools will be open in New York City, but not
in some other areas.
The storm — a great Crab nebula 1,200 miles long and 500 miles wide on
satellite images and a ghostly apparition on the ground — crawled up the
Eastern Seaboard overnight with winds that gusted up to 60 miles an hour, and
cloaked the cities and countrysides from North Carolina to coastal Maine with
12 to more than 27 inches of snow, which broke or challenged records in many
locales.
A total of 26.9 inches fell in Central Park, the most since record-keeping
began in 1869, the National Weather Service reported. In what weather experts
called a remarkable and relentless fall that began late Saturday afternoon
and ended late yesterday, it eclipsed the legendary blow of Dec. 26-27, 1947,
which dropped 26.4 inches and killed 77 people. It also easily surpassed the
memorable No. 3 and No. 2 storms, of Jan. 6-7, 1996, which left 20.2 inches,
and March 12-14, 1888, the notorious Blizzard of '88, which dropped 21 inches.
The storm knocked down electrical lines and disrupted power to more than
220,000 homes, most of them in the Washington-Baltimore area. More than
85,000 customers were reported blacked out in Maryland, and 60,000 more in
Virginia. Thousands more were temporarily without power in Delaware, and
isolated sections of New Jersey and Long Island.
Announcing itself at dawn over New York with theatrical claps of thunder and
lightning that roused some people from sleep, the storm dropped snow at
phenomenal rates of 3 to 5 inches an hour between dawn at 7 a.m. and early
afternoon, obliterating the skyline and anything more than a few feet away.
During that time, more than 14 inches fell in Central Park and 16 inches at
La Guardia Airport, where the snow topped out at 25.4 inches, another record.
"That's about as hard as it can snow in New York City, and it's extremely
rare," said Jeff Warner, a meteorologist with Pennsylvania State University.
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