Wintry Mix Creates Slick Roadways Across Tri-State Area
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Another round of wintry weather has swept its way into much of the Tri-State Area for the third Monday in a row, leaving scores of schools closed and commuters facing slick roads.
A winter weather advisory is in effect for New York City, Long Island, Rockland and Westchester counties and for parts of New Jersey and Connecticut until midnight Tuesday morning. Some areas to the north, including Ulster and Dutchess counties, were under a winter storm warning until 6 a.m. Tuesday.
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Freezing rain and drizzle mixed with sleet at times earlier Monday. CBS2's Lonnie Quinn reported that while LaGuardia Airport got only 0.2 inches in the storm going back to late Sunday, totals were staggering in some other areas – 7 inches in New Fairfield, Connecticut, and 9 inches in Waterbury, Connecticut.
A little more snow – and possibly another burst of more intense snow – was expected to develop in the late afternoon and continue through the evening before temperatures were expected to drop again, Quinn reported.
Wintry Mix Creates Slick Roadways Across Tri-State Area
Snow accumulations were expected to top out at one inch in the city, with around 0.1 inches of ice. Three to 6 inches of snow was possible in Rockland, Westchester and Passaic counties.
Untreated surfaces can become slippery and a travel advisory also is in effect through Tuesday morning. Around the city Monday, many were noticing the slippery and treacherous conditions.
"Maybe half of them have been salted and shoveled, but it's kind of scary walking," Hell's Kitchen resident Henry Rotherel told CBS'2 Elise Finch.
"I feel it's been very slippery," said Upper West Side resident Emily Verde. "Even on the stairs of the subways."
In Park Slope, Brooklyn, landlord Paul Skuza was still cleaning up hours after the initial weather event.
"You have to," he said. "People will slip and fall and get hurt."
Park Slope residents said shoveling and salting were a must on the neighborhood streets with steep inclines.
"I slipped once today already," said Jeffrey Starin of Park Slope. "I didn't fall, but I slipped."
"It's very dangerous, and it's hard to tell sometimes too. You don't how slick it is until you're already kind of mid-slide," added Kathleen Cauthen of Park Slope.
And while untreated roads that turned into sheets of ice made for another dangerous commute, people who spoke to CBS2 had high praise for public work crews.
"I must say, giving credit -- they do a good job on the roads getting to it ahead of time," said Phill Ziggos of the Upper West Side.
"The height of the storm has made them want to get out here and fix everything, and make sure we can walk," said Michael Falligan of Jamaica, Queens.
The work to keep area roads safe was not over late Monday afternoon. With more snow and sleet expected and temperatures dropping into the teens and 20s overnight Monday into Tuesday, black ice was expected to form on wet, untreated surfaces.
"When it freezes at night it's bad," Skuza said. "It will be like an ice skating rink."
Alternate-side-parking rules were suspended in the city Monday, but parking meters remained in effect. The city sanitation department deployed 500 salt spreaders.
Of course, the problems with icy roads Monday extended well beyond the five boroughs of the city.
In Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, and on Long Island, most schools were closed.
And for those who had to be out in counties north of the city Monday, there was danger and horror on the roads, CBS2's Lou Young reported.
On Rockland County, a driver ended up in a ditch next to the New York State Thruway Monday morning. What should have been a fender bender escalated into something more because of ice on the roadway.
"She was a little shaken up for obvious reasons," said Ardsley fire Chief T.J. Knosael.
Stormy Mondays have been the rule in recent weeks, and the people avoiding the obvious risks were affecting businesses. Delivery trucks were heading right back to the garage.
"The trucks don't run, you're not making money -- three Mondays in a row," said delivery truck driver Tom McNally.
"We didn't work the first two Mondays because the snow started early, but today we got caught," said tractor-trailer driver Kevin Hack. "Friday, I think I'm banging in sick"
Indeed, people who could not drive could not get to work. Thus, it was paralysis on Main Street in many towns.
"No school, no workers, no nothing," said Sleepy Hollow deli owner Joe Clasadante.
There was a row of empty tables at the deli at what should have been the height of the lunch hour Monday. Shopkeepers were looking out on a sparsely-populated snowscape.
"No have nothing business – zero," said shop owner Sanageete Panwai.
"It hurts the pocket, the head and the heart," added deli owner Joe Clasadante.
New snow covered old snow, and the northern suburbs were tired of it. Flowers were dead, lawn flamingos were frosted over, and cold hearts were left twisting in an icy breeze.
And with school out again, there had been so many snow days for residents of north suburban counties that it could end up impacting spring break.
In South Brunswick, New Jersey, police said the icy roads resulted in 14 crashes, including one involving a garbage truck that slid into a gas station on Route 1.
Many other roads large and small in New Jersey were likewise in poor shape.
"My driveway is a sheet of ice, my walkway is a sheet of ice. I was just hoping the roads were drivable," one commuter in Oakland, New Jersey told 1010 WINS' Glenn Schuck.
"On my street, very icy and my driveway is on a hill so I had to slide down to get out of the driveway," Franklin Lakes, New Jersey resident Nancy Baldwin told CBS2's Janelle Burrell.
"It's very icy, the sidewalks, the untreated pavement," another driver told CBS2's Ilana Gold.
And in Connecticut, Department of Transportation spokesman Kevin Nursick says salt, sand and other road treatment supplies are not in jeopardy.
And he says that with less than six weeks until spring, the storms are, in theory, winding down.
Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra said the storms have created a major budget challenge. He added that since there's no more room to put the snow, the removal has now become a hauling-away effort.
"These storms have been very, very quick, and they've all been over 10 inches," he told WCBS 880 Connecticut Bureau Chief Fran Schneidau.
Hartford Mayor Discusses Snow Challenges
The weather also caused some flight cancellations, and passengers were advised to check with their airline before heading to the airport.
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