New York City breaks 50-year record of longest winter without snow

AFP
Sun, 29 January 2023 

© Kena Betancur, AFP


The idea of New York in wintertime conjures up images of Manhattan's Times Square and Central Park shrouded in snow. Not this year.

No snow Sunday meant the city broke a 50-year record for the latest first snowfall of the season.

It is also close to recording its highest number of consecutive days without any measurable flakes.

The snowless streak has New Yorkers puzzled, some questioning their love-hate relationship with the white stuff.

"It's really sad," said retired teacher Anne Hansen. "Basically, we don't like to see the snow. But now we're sorely missing it," she told AFP.

The Big Apple usually gets its first dusting around mid-December. Last season it arrived on Christmas Eve.

A heavy load often results in "snow days," beloved by children and office workers who gets days off school and work.

Kids grab their sleds and head to the nearest grassy slope. Adults cross-country ski around the main parks.

"You stay home, you drink hot cocoa; it's beautiful and the dog loves it," filmmaker Renata Romain told AFP.

Joy turns to despair fairly quickly though, as the snow turns yellowy-brown, trash piles up on the sidewalk and trips to the laundromat become hazardous.

"The snow is pretty to look at the first day, but afterwards it's dirty and I don't like it. It's slushy. It's nasty," added Romain.

Meteorologists define snowfall in NYC as snow that measures at least 0.1 inches in Central Park. Some flakes fell last Wednesday but not enough to count.

No snow Sunday means this season is now the longest wait since records began in 1869.

(AFP)