East End Gets First Snow Day in Years

The first winter storm to dump a notable accumulation of snow on the East End in two years caused power outages, school closures and travel delays across the region on Tuesday, February 13.

The National Weather Service reported 5 inches of snow in Hampton Bays, 4 inches in Riverhead and 3.7 inches in Aquebogue. The Town of Southampton declared a state of emergency and Riverhead Town Hall joined local school districts in taking a snow day.

PSEG-Long Island reported more than 4,000 of its 1.1 million customers had outages, including more than 20 outages on the South Fork impacting more than 1,000 homes and businesses. Many outages were caused by tree limbs falling on utility lines.

The snow made travel dangerous. Car crashes were reported across the region. Beyond the Twin Forks, more than 1,000 flights were canceled on the morning of the storm, mostly at the airports in the New York City area and in Boston. Airports in the region asked travelers to check with their airlines in case of cancellations and delays.

Freezing temperatures in the forecast are expected to cause icy conditions throughout the week after the storm.

-With Associated Press