Snowstorm leaves thousands in the Capital Region without power Tuesday

PHOTOGRAPHER: Erica Miller

King Enterprises employee William Smurphat, of Victory, snow blows the sidewalk outside Arcade building on Broadway in Saratoga Springs as snow continues to fall Tuesday morning.

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ALBANY – Wet, heavy snow covered the Capital Region with an average of 8 to 16 inches between late Monday night and Tuesday evening, leaving thousands in the Capital Region without power Tuesday.

The National Weather Service issued a Winter Storm Warning through 8 a.m. Wednesday morning.

“We had rain yesterday [Monday] evening, and we had a lot of heavy, wet snow overnight and we saw anywhere from five to nine inches in the Capital District,” National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Villani said early in the day Tuesday. “We do have snow falling down and accumulating through this evening [Tuesday]. We’ll have another four to about seven or eight additional inches.”

Schenectady and Albany counties on average saw totals of 8 to 14 inches by late Tuesday evening. Gloversville had around 10 inches, Amsterdam had about 10 inches. Villani said this storm is the largest amount of accumulation the Capital Region has seen this winter.

In most areas the storm brought heavy snow with a quick accumulation for the early part of Tuesday, and gradually become lighter snowfall Tuesday evening.

“We’ll have temperatures at, or around freezing for the next few nights,” Villani said. “It will be a little chilly, mid-30s, Wednesday, then we’ll see temperatures in at least the mid-40s Thursday and Friday. So, we definitely will at least start to melt the snow Thursday.”

Winter Storm Warnings for a whole region are issued when a wide-spread snow storm of seven or more inches is expected, or when it is going to be a high-impact event, such as tree limbs coming down and power outages, Villani said.

“In New York, there’s been a number of power outages around Columbia County, Rensselaer County, the biggest area affected is around Berkshire Massachusetts,” Villani said.

At mid-day Tuesday, the PowerOutage.us tracker reported more than 16,000 customers without power in Schenectady, Saratoga, Fulton, Montgomery, Schoharie and Albany counties.

Saratoga County accounted for more than 8,000 of that total; Schenectady County had just under 2,000 of that total.

Statewide, about 88,000 utility customers were reportedly without power mid-day Tuesday.

National Grid increased staffing and extended work shifts in anticipation of the storm, the company said Monday.

“The long-duration nor’easter continues to impact upstate New York, particularly in the greater Capital Region, bringing heavy, wet snow, high winds, and treacherous conditions,” National Grid said Tuesday morning. “The safety of our employees and customers is our first priority. We are working closely with local officials, first responders and other key emergency response personnel to coordinate our restoration efforts, with the storm expected to continue through Wednesday.”

National Grid crews are facing “extremely dangerous” weather conditions, and will work to clean up extensive debris, assess damage and restore power where it is safe to do so,” the company said.

Snowfall in higher elevations of the Capital Region saw between 12 and 24 inches of snow and in lower elevations saw between 8-12 inches, according to the SUNY Albany Weather Forecast from meteorologist Ross Lazear.

“Strong winds will continue tomorrow [Wednesday] even after the snow subsides, but milder weather is in store later in the week, with rain likely Friday, and colder weather for the weekend,” Lazear reported Tuesday.

The state Department of Transportation’s My511NY (a traffic and transit information service managed by NYSDOT) reported multiple traffic incidents in the Capital Region Tuesday morning, including a downed pole and wires on Route 9 in both directions in Colonie, closing all lanes on Maxwell Road, and a vehicle crash on I-87 Northbound closing the left shoulder on the Thruway northbound by Exit 21.