Snow_06

Long Island got rocked by a powerful nor'easter that brought blizzard conditions and left behind more than 20 inches of snow in
some places - far short of a record but still a powerful reminder of winter after an unusually balmy January.

Road travel is expected to be near normal for this morning's rush hour but disruptions will continue on the Long Island Rail Road,
officials said.

With the storm hitting on a weekend and most people staying home yesterday, road crews were able to keep up with the drifts and
prevent any roads from being closed. And Mother Nature was expected to take care of whatever the plows can't, as temperatures
are expected to reach into the 50s by later in the week.

The Port Authority's major airports shut down for most of the day, causing hundreds of flights to be canceled. Newark Liberty
Airport and Kennedy Airport reopened last night with limited flights, but LaGuardia Airport was not expected to reopen until 6 a.m.
today. Late last night, after Kennedy reopened, a Turkish Airways jet skidded off the runway. No injuries were reported. Long Island
MacArthur Airport shut down late yesterday afternoon, but was expected to reopen this morning.

New York State Police reported that from midnight to 11 a.m. yesterday, troopers responded to 22 accidents in Nassau and Suffolk
counties, although no one was injured. But a 79-year-old Northport man was critically injured yesterday when he was hit by a car
while he was clearing his driveway, according to Suffolk police.

Arthur Schryver, of Woodycrest Drive, was using a snowblower shortly before 2:30 p.m. when a neighbor, Robert Blake, 60, lost
control of a 2000 Dodge because of icy roads.

Schryver got pinned under the truck. Last night, he was listed in critical condition at Huntington Hospital, police said.

Although the snowfall ended by early evening in eastern Suffolk, several school districts and other educational institutions had
already decided to cancel classes today. Others were waiting to see what conditions were like this morning.

National Weather Service meteorologist John Cristantello said the storm tracked to the southeast of Long Island with the heaviest
snow occurring in late morning and early afternoon. But it didn't break any records. While Brookhaven National Laboratory's files
showed the record snowfall at Upton was 23 inches on Feb. 6-7, 1978, snowfall there was only 11 inches by 1 p.m. yesterday.
Across Long Island, snowfall totals ranged from 23.6 inches in Great Neck to 20 inches in Islip and 13.1 inches in Oceanside,
according to National Weather Service figures as of 10 p.m. last night.

By 4 p.m., the National Weather Service reported that 26.9 inches of snow had come down in Central Park, the highest total since
records started being kept in 1869. The old record was 26.4 inches in December 1947. It came after the nation's warmest January
on record, with an average temperature of 39.

Today is expected to be partly cloudy and breezy, but with lower winds than yesterday.

LIRR spokesman Brian Dolan said that, while six trains became disabled by snow covering the third rail yesterday, "We expect that
that service will be back by tomorrow." Dolan expects some trains to be canceled today and delays of at least 30 minutes for some
service.

New York City mass transit is expected to operate normally this morning and all roads are expected to be plowed, city and
Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials said.

The Long Island Power Authority had nearly 200 repair personnel working 16-hour shifts starting Saturday evening.

Outages began to be reported at 8 a.m. yesterday, with 3,000 customers affected by midmorning as the wind increased and snow
got heavier. From midnight Sunday through yesterday afternoon, 6,762 customers had lost power, many of them in northern
Brookhaven Town and on the East End, because of trees taking down wires, said LIPA Chairman Richard Kessel. By 11 last night,
about 148 customers remained without power, but a LIPA spokesman said power was expected to be restored by this morning.

Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray noted some coastal erosion in Point Lookout. The town had 300 workers on duty starting at 4
p.m. Saturday, operating 225 trucks. Crews were expected to use more than 10,000 tons of salt.

While most streets were quiet yesterday, many people were out skiing, sledding and building snowmen. In Roslyn Heights, David
Love was roasting shish kabobs on an outdoor fireplace at his home.

Ruben Mordukov, determined not to miss the feast, drove from his home in Fresh Meadows, Queens, to attend.

When his car got stuck in a drift on Willis Avenue, Love went to help him. The two spent 20 minutes to free it.

"I shoveled it, pushed it and salted it," Love said. "I put a little pepper on it even. Nothing worked."

The two men, who are from Russia, said weather like this hardly makes them blink. "We come from Moscow," Love said. "For us,
this is nothing."