More than a foot of snow had fallen on parts of Long Island at the mid-point of the first blizzard of 2016, which forecasters predicted would dump twice that amount on the region by the time it ends, experts say.
More than 15 inches of snow was recorded at 1 p.m. Saturday at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, which the National Weather Service (NWS) uses as a reference point for Nassau and Suffolk counties.
Forecasters noted that the tallies are unofficial and only show what trained meteorologists and members of the public have reported to the NWS over the first six hours of the storm, which is expected to continue through this evening before tapering off overnight.
Across the tri-state area, New Jersey and Queens were leading the LI high mark by one inch at the halfway point of the storm that The Weather Channel dubbed Jonas.The record for snowfall accumulation on LI is 33 inches, set in February 2013.
In Suffolk County, unofficial snowfall totals at mid-day Saturday ranked from the highest to lowest after the LIMA tally were 13 inches in Bay Shore, 12.6 inches in Centereach, 12 inches in Eastport, 11.2 inches in Farmingville, 11 inches in Manorville, 10.5 inches in Mastic, 10.1 inches in Upton, 10 inches in Islip, 9.5 inches Deer Park, 9.2 inches in Sayville, 9 inches in North Babylon, 8.5 inches in East Nortport, 8 inches in Mt. Sinai and Riverhead, 7 iches in South Huntington and Stony Brook, 6.3 inches in Kings Park and 5.5 inches in Cold Spring Harbor.
The unofficial tallies in Nassau County were 10.5 inches in Mineola, 10.3 inches in North Bellmore, 10.2 inches in New Hyde Park, 10 inches in Malverne and Carle Place, 9.5 inches in Seaford, 9 inches in Oceanside, 7.5 inches in Bellmore, 7.1 inches in East Meadow, 6.7 inches in Baldwin Harbor and 6.5 inches in Hicksville.
The snow totals come as Nassau, Suffolk and New York State were under state of emergencies, state roads were closed on LI starting at 2:30 p.m. and the Long Island Rail Road was shutting down by 4 p.m.
