By Gus Saltonstall
We’ll pose the question to you. Was Tuesday’s snowstorm a bust?
If you asked anybody who only ventured outside for the morning commute — they would most certainly say no — as snowfall paired with strong winds created daunting conditions between 5 and 11 a.m.
Additionally, if you didn’t contextualize the forecast, the total of 3.2 inches of snowfall in New York City Tuesday makes it the snowiest day in the five boroughs since January 29, 2022.
On the other hand, if you slept in, you might not have seen any snow at all, as the storm was more or less finished by 11 a.m.
While the three inches of snow that did fall on Tuesday is a formidable number, it did not make it to the forecasted five to eight inches that was expected.
Mayor Eric Adams announced Tuesday afternoon that public schools will return to in-person learning on Wednesday, after public school buildings were closed on Tuesday. Public school students still had remote learning on Tuesday, despite the vast majority of private and Catholic schools giving their students the day off.
Remote learning was not a smooth affair on Tuesday.
A significant glitch with Google Classroom didn’t allow large numbers of teachers and students to login to their virtual sessions.
“We are currently experiencing issues with services that require IBM authentication to login,” the Department of Education posted on X this morning.
A fix was rolled out shortly after, though, that reportedly allowed the majority of teachers and students to gain access around 9 a.m.
Either way, the snow on Tuesday still provided some great photos of the Upper West Side, including Wyatt Smith and his giant snowman in Central Park that took five-and-a-half hours to create.
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Great photos, but very disappointing from a snow perspective, and this would never have been considered a snow day worthy of shutting schools 10 years ago. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
Beyond disagree! When you think back on your grammar school years, snow days were days off from school to just be free to play in the snow and what joyful memories those are.
Disappointing “storm,” but nice work on the photos, guys!
Snowflakes made our city look even prettier! I didn’t realize we were living in such a lovely place. It’s warm and cozy staying in a tiny apartment.
When did New Yorkers become such a bunch of…snowflakes? We NEVER closed schools, post offices, etc. unless a literal blizzard was expected. Two to three inches? Even four to six? No problem; just go about our business. Now, we’re pre-shutting schools because we might get a few inches? What the hell happened to New York?
Bah humbug! You think it’s too much to give kids one free day off from school? Really?
Parents need to work! It seems that the schools are run for the benefit of teachers’ unions rather than students and parents!
Wasn’t even 3″ because it melted almost as fast as it fell.
I’m 43 years old and I never got a snow day (still bitter!) I was complaining to my mom last night, and she remembers risking both of our lives to cross Broadway to get me to the bus stop, probably in ’92 or ’93, with cars slowly but unpredictably skidding down the street around us. I asked her why we didn’t just stay home (many did that day) and she said she felt like if the teachers were going to show up, I should too. But in hindsight she says it was crazy. Funny memory!
I grew up in Chicago – but have lived in NY for over 30 years – so – really? (I didn’t wear a winter coat for about my first 5 years here!) But totally agree – these are terrific photos – and loved the coverage on last night’s news of kids on the UWS sledding in Riverside Park – Snow Day!
Considering that every forecast had the daily low temp above freezing it shouldn’t come as a surprise that there was little accumulation.
Beautiful photos but as far as a storm goes, it was a nothing burger. Somehow the guards at the American Museum of Natural History managed to get to work, and the bus and subway drivers too. But the teachers couldn’t manage? So another day of learning lost and hundreds of thousands of parents inconvenienced and not able to work. More evidence of the inordinate power of the teachers’ unions??
The teachers were not the ones who called for a remote day yesterday, so not sure why the vitriol. Teachers don’t deserve that comment.
No snow day is a bust! I would have liked to see more snow and have it last longer but I’m happy to see snow at all. Being a native Manhattanite, back in the day, we used to see many many snow storms and we let our son skip school (though usually the schools were closed) to have the experience of beautiful snow falls and sleigh riding.
One or two days off in 365 is no big deal.
Let kids have some play time.
Think of all the children who live in different parts of the United States and different parts of the world who have never seen snow. My credo is to never pass up a snow day, especially for children!
Amazing photo by Daniel Katzive. Magical!
And wonderful snowman as well. Good work!
Thanks for posting these photos. The snow was wonderful. It was beautiful to watch the thick flakes falling, covering car tops, awnings and trees. The folks in Central Park with children, large plastic bin tops, sleds and pets were having fun running up little hills, just to roll or slide back down. We saw one Rat Terrier that kept his owner busy running and jumping. He looked so happy to have snow to play in, While my old man and I enjoyed our walk with the snow blowing in our faces, thinking about the “olden” days when our kids were young.
Okay, who cares that it was only 3 or 4 inches, the car owners did have trouble moving their cars, There weren’t mountains of snow for Supers to shovel and the melting snow didn’t make really huge rivers on the corners.
Thanks to the snow gods for at least one good old fashioned winter day. Don’t forget to read The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats before you take a nap!
Love the photos shown here.
Another snow forecast exaggerated by the weather service to panic people.
A winter storm warning, really ???
I think it was just plain mean not to give the kids a real snow day, especially since NYC has barely had any snow in the last few years. And since the remote learning technology had significant “issues,” it was even more ridiculous not to give them some fun.
Very nice aerial shot of CP in snow by Steve Weiss.