High winds, cold snap creating hazardous conditions in NYC and beyond
Monday is a cold, windy day, and there's the potential for some snow later this week.
After a rollercoaster of a weekend, we're finally drying out, but we're stuck with the winds all day long.
That said, the Wind Advisory remains in effect through Monday and calls for gusts of up to 50 mph. There's a High Wind Warning for Sullivan and Ulster Counties in New York due to wind gusts of up to 60 mph. A colder air mass will be in place, so it will only feel like the teens.
The high winds prompted tractor-trailers, motorcycles, step vans, trailers, minibuses and more to be banned from the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge.
It will be bitterly cold and blustery Monday night. That said, expect single digit and sub-zero wind chills by dawn.
Tuesday will be another windy, frigid day with wind chills in the teens. The good news is, high pressure will get the upper hand, so you'll need the shades, too.
The winds finally let up on Wednesday. Even so, it will only feel like the 20s, at best.
Then our attention turns towards a coastal low that makes a pass to our south and east on Thursday.
The models have backed off dramatically since last week, however there's still plenty of time for them to "change their minds," so we're not letting our guard down just yet.
Trees down all over New York City
Nearly 200 incidents of downed trees were reported in New York City by 10 a.m. on Monday.
Powerful gusts may have played a role in a frightening close call for a Queens family, when a massive tree came crashing down on their home and smashed right through an upstairs bedroom. The tree was uprooted and snapped at its base. Neighbors on 90th Avenue said they heard loud, intense wind gusts just before it came crashing down.
Mohammed Islam said he heard a loud bang early Monday morning and when he came outside, he saw the fallen tree and the damage it caused.
"Very shocking. Very, very shocking to see. Looked like a very strong tree, you know how big they are," Islam said.
Over in Middle Village, another tree, fully uprooted, crashed onto Natalie Kempijan's parked car right outside of her home on 75th Street.
"I had just woken up. I heard a loud crash, and i was like, oh, there was a car crash. You don't think it's you. And then I looked outside and I was like, oh my god, it's my car!" Kempijan said.
She said she is just glad no one was hurt.
"It's OK. It's just a car. I'm more sad for the tree. These things are hard to replace," Kempijan said. "It's more jarring when you see a big tree like this come up. It seems like how is that even possible?"
Crews worked all day to clear the trees, but the damage they left behind could take weeks to repair and replace. The city Park Department says if you see a tree that looks unstable or has already started to uproot, you can report it to 311 to have it inspected.
