Governor declares state of emergency beginning at midnight throughout NY
Jodi Shaffer too this photo this morning of the sunrise on Presbyterian Road in Knowlesville.
Press Release, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Office
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has declared a state of emergency across all 62 counties in New York ahead of the extreme winter storm expected to bring heavy snowfall and high winds.
The Governor also directed non-essential state employees impacted by the winter storm to stay home from work on Tuesday without having to charge accruals.
“To ensure our local governments have the resources and support they need to prepare and respond quickly to the impending winter storm, I am declaring a statewide state of emergency,” Governor Cuomo said. “With heavy snow and blizzard-like conditions expected from upstate to downstate, we are taking every precaution to keep New Yorkers safe. I urge residents to stay informed, avoid unnecessary travel, and where possible, leave work early as heavy snowfall is expected to begin tonight.”
Snow is expected to cover Upstate New York, where 12 to 24 inches of snow is anticipated in the Western New York, Finger Lakes, and Central New York regions over a 48-hour period beginning Monday night. Areas south of Lake Ontario from Buffalo to Rochester will see periods of snowfall of 2 to 3 inches per hour during parts of the day Tuesday.
Photo by Tom Rivers: A fire hydrant at the corner of East Park and Platt streets is pictured on Sunday evening at sunset.
The heaviest snow accumulations are expected in the south and east of the Capital Region, the Mohawk Valley, and the Mid-Hudson Valley region where 20 to 24 inches of snow is expected from late Monday night through late Tuesday night and will taper off on Wednesday.
Peak snowfall will fall on Tuesday during the daylight hours and in these areas, the bulk of the snowfall will from between 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Travel will be extremely dangerous from high rates of blowing and drifting snow.
The New York State Department of Transportation has 3,847 operators and supervisors statewide and is ready to respond with 1,600 large plow/dump trucks, 200 medium plow/dump trucks, 324 loaders, 42 truck/loader mounted snow blowers, 61 tow plows, 20 graders and 15 pickup trucks with plows. The DOT also has more than 443,000 tons of road salt on hand. Upstate regions will be providing an additional 176 operators and supervisors, 12 Storm Managers, 30 trucks, and 12 loader/snowblowers to serve Long Island and the Mid-Hudson region for the duration of this storm. The Long Island Expressway will have 100 plows servicing the road – double the normal deployment for a snowstorm. DOT continues to monitor the forecast to ensure that out-of-region resources are being deployed to the areas that are expected to be hardest-hit by the storm.
