A snow storm paralyzes New York

In the heart of New York City, Central Park was covered in a beautiful blanket of white on Tuesday, and the metropolis and other areas of the US Northeast – with a population of more than 30 million – were paralyzed by 30 centimeters of snow in places.

Consequences of this snow storm predicted by American weather: More than 1,220 flights to and from New York were canceled at midday, including nearly half of the flights at LaGuardia Airport, and more than a quarter of the flights at Newark, the large airport in New Jersey in the United States. . New York suburbs, as well as 20% of the platform traffic at historic JFK Airport, according to Flight Aware.

“Avoid moving”

Schools, courts and government offices were also closed and roads became almost deserted after the National Weather Service (NWS) recommended that motorists drive “With the utmost caution.” or “Simply avoid travel if possible.”. New York City (population 8.5 million), its emblematic sites such as Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge or Times Square, and all the suburbs where millions of other residents live, were covered in the morning with a magnificent thick white coat, reminiscent of images of New York. Epinal in winter is one of the most famous cities in the world. Few runners and dogs in Central Park, but there are actually a few snowmen and snowball fights, according to AFP photographers.

The last snowfall in the city dates back to January 16, ending 700 days without snow. “4 to 8 inches (10 to 20 cm) of snow is expected with wind gusts of 65 km/h.” During the day, according to the New York City (NYC) alert system. Since dawn, snow has fallen at a rate of 2.5 to 5 cm per hour “specific places” of the New York metropolitan area, especially in the residential suburbs of Westchester County, north of the city, located between the Atlantic Ocean and the Hudson River, according to the National Weather Service. Same to the west, in the industrial suburbs and bedrooms of New Jersey and to the east on the Long Island peninsula that points toward the Atlantic Ocean.

Climate change

In total, 32 million residents of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are affected by the severe weather according to the National Weather Service, with up to 33 centimeters of snow in New Jersey cities. With the exception of a small snow episode in mid-January, New York City has not seen this much precipitation since February 2022. On the other hand, on Christmas 2022, “Storm of the century” Snow that reached a height of more than a meter in the vast north and west of New York State, which is largely rural, caused dozens of deaths, especially in the city of Buffalo on the Canadian border, hundreds of kilometers northwest of New York City. In the United States and the rest of the world, the frequency, intensity, and unpredictability of summer and winter weather are increasing due to climate change.