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About an inch of snow fell in northern Westchester early Saturday morning, marking only the second snowfall of 2012. The notably mild and dry winter caught the attention of not only some grateful residents but also National Weather Service scientists.
The snowfall cancelled some events in the county, including St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Religious Education in Shrub Oak's eighth grade retreat. As of 7 a.m. Saturday, the National Weather Service was predicting less than half an inch of daytime snow accumulation, with a 20 percent chance of snow Sunday afternoon.
First responder agencies echoed a familiar refrain - dont leave home until the roads are cleared.
I recommend that people take a look out the doors and if the roads look like theyre covered in snow they should try to stay inside their homes. And make it easy for the DPW and move their vehicles out of the road, and when the snow is done, clear their sidewalks so people can safely walk by, said Lt. Russel Harper of the Croton Police Department.
A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report identified January 2012 as the fourth warmest January on record for the contiguous United States. "It's warmer this year mainly because of the jet stream pattern," said AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Michael Pigott, in a release Thursday. "Generally, for the most part of the winter, it has been on a west-to-east pattern. Meteorologists refer to this as a 'zonal flow.' Essentially, we've seen a lot of storms moving from west to east, and not a lot traveling northward or southward. So, anything in the Arctic is staying up there, and anything in the U.S. is staying put as well. If you have north-to-south undulations in the jet stream, you do get warmer air heading northward to the poles, and colder air comes down toward the U.S. from the Arctic."
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