The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness
Capital Weather Gang

Northeast winter storm cuts power to more than 300,000

Binghamton, N.Y. set an April two-day snowfall record with over 14 inches

By
and 
 
Updated April 19, 2022 at 3:03 p.m. EDT|Published April 19, 2022 at 10:01 a.m. EDT
Snow at the National Weather Service forecast office in Binghamton, N.Y., Tuesday morning. (NWS)
Comment

Winter storm warnings blanketed much of central New York state on Tuesday morning, as a record-setting April snowstorm swept through the region. More than 300,000 households were without power in the Northeast at midday, due to the heft of over a foot of wet, pasty snow that snapped tree limbs and power lines.

Get the full experience.Choose your plan

The National Weather Service reported 14.2 inches of snow fell in Binghamton, N.Y., breaking its previous two-day April snowstorm record of 13.6 inches from 2007. Binghamton Mayor Jared Kraham declared a state of emergency in the city due to thousands of residents without power. He tweeted 60 city streets were at least partially obstructed by downed trees.

Downed trees on railroad tracks between Albany and Syracuse disrupted Amtrak train services, causing delays and at least one cancellation.

Rare late-April snow coats Mid-Atlantic valleys, pastes mountains

The heavy snow came as the Weather Service upped its snowfall projections in the southern Adirondacks and the western Mohawk Valley of New York early Tuesday, forecasting 8 to 18 inches. Snowfall rates of up 3 inches per hour were predicted and observed, with thundersnow even reported west of Albany.

Photos from throughout the region showed sagging and snapped tree branches under the snowfall’s weight.

In New York state alone, about 200,000 customers were without electricity midday Tuesday according to PowerOutage.us, mostly focused in the central part of the state. In parts Broome County, home to Binghamton, restoration of power could take days, executive Jason Garnar told FOX Weather.

“I’ve never seen this before in our county’s history,” Garnar said. “I’ve never seen so many trees down. This snow was not a bad storm – only 10/12 inches – but that snow was so heavy.”

Over 50,000 customers were also without power in Pennsylvania, mainly in the northeastern part of the state where the snow ended Tuesday morning. Most of the remaining storm-related outages were concentrated in Vermont and Maine.

Snow totals

The jackpot totals in the interior Northeast reached a foot and a half Tuesday morning. Virgil, N.Y., south of Syracuse, reported 18 inches. Indian Lake, N.Y., about 50 miles north-northwest of Saratoga Springs, had logged 16 inches. In nearby Piseco, 14 inches accumulated.

Elsewhere across the Northeast, snow totals were similarly impressive:

16.3 inches: Erieville, N.Y.

15.5 inches: Hoffmeister, N.Y.

15 inches: Marathon, N.Y.

14 inches: Laporte, Pa.

13.5 inches: Paris, N.Y.

13 inches: Maryland, N.Y.

12.5 inches: Windsor, N.Y.

12 inches: Dimock, Pa.

12 inches: Oneonta, N.Y.

The 14.2 inches in Binghamton was not only its greatest two-day April snowstorm on record, but also its latest snowfall of at least 11 inches on record. Binghamton has been walloped by multiple blockbuster snows in recent years. It endured record-breaking snows in late November 2016 (26.4 inches), mid-March 2017 (35.5 inches) and mid-December 2020 (40.3 inches).

In the panhandle of extreme western Maryland and adjacent western Virginia and eastern West Virginia in the Alleghenies, up to half a foot of snow fell on Monday before the storm lumbered northward. Frostburg, Md., picked up 6 inches, and another 2 inches are expected Tuesday thanks to “upslope flow.” That means moisture-rich air will be forced up the mountains, the air pockets cooling and condensing to saturation before depositing their moisture as snowflakes.

The swift accumulation of snowfall Monday led to heavy backups on Interstate 70 near the Maryland-Pennsylvania border as well as Interstate 68 in western Maryland.

Storm to pull away

On Tuesday midday, the storm was centered in northern Vermont and New Hampshire. Low pressure zones in the Northern Hemisphere spin counterclockwise, so mild air was being dragged up the immediate East Coast by southerly winds preceding the storm. That is bringing heavy rain to Downeast Maine, but the last of the showers had exited Boston and Providence. They were in the “dry slot,” or an insurgence of dry air and clear skies that had spiraled around the low and punched its way into the system. Boston wound up with about 0.54 inches of rain, and Providence got nearly an inch and a half.

Over southeastern New England, the storm was swirling within an energetic dip in the jet stream that was simultaneously mixing down strong wind gusts to the surface. Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket were under high wind warnings, for gusts topping 60 mph during the morning; slightly lesser wind advisories span the lengths of coastal Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Winds began to ease by midday.

Through the afternoon Tuesday, the snow band on the back side of the storm will continue to pivot through central and northern New York along the Interstate 81 corridor. It’s the result of multiple factors — deformation, or a sort of stretching in the atmosphere that enhances upward motion, and an influx of frigid air from the northwest kicking up pockets of comparatively milder and moisture-laden air. Outside of northern New York (mainly at high elevations), little additional accumulation is forecast and winter storm warnings have been dropped.

By early evening, snow will be relegated to northern Aroostook County in Maine and far northern New York State, where winter storm warnings will expired at 8 p.m. The snow should lift north of the St. Lawrence River in Canada during the evening, spelling an end to precipitation stateside, but there could be some redevelopment into Wednesday morning. That’s as lake-effect snows form off Lakes Erie and Ontario, pinwheeling east and delivering an additional 2 or 3 inches of snow over the Tug Hill Plateau.

A few high-elevation snow showers are possible in the White and Green Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire before the instigating upper-air disturbance withdraws far enough away for much of the precipitation to shut off.

Loading...