A New 'Storm of The Century'

A furious coastal blizzard with howling winds blew 50 miles per hour or more sent sailing ships up against the shores of Long Island Sound  on Dec. 13, 1811, according to "Discovering Sands Point" [editor's note: Joan Kent is the author of this book].  Cow Neck farmers buried 10 bodies that washed ashore near the Sands Point Lighthouse. A lighthouse can tell you where the rocks are, but it can't keep the wind from smashing your ship against them. Soon dubbed the "Storm the Century," this wintry blast held its title until the next record storm.  

Because of limited communications and the scarcity of local newspapers and weather record-keeping, it is difficult to determine Long Island's champion blizzard. Arguably, however, the blizzard of Dec. 26 and Dec. 27, 2010, looks like a comer for the title, according to news reports in The New York Times and Newsday.

Still, old-timers with youthful memories may hold out for the blizzard of Dec. 26 and Dec. 27, 1947, which according to the National Weather Service brought 26 inches of official snow to Central Park and a lot of unofficial skiers and sledders to "Suicide Hill" on the Plandome Golf Course and the cliffs overlooking local sand pits.  Others storm fanciers rather like the storm of Feb. 12, 2006 as biggest and best. As The New York Times reported that same day, "The National Weather Service said 26.9 inches of snowfall was measured in Central Park at 4:10 p.m., exceeding the previous record of 26.4 inches, set in December 1947." 

However, the newly elected Mayor John Lindsay only had 15.3 inches to contend with back in February 1969, but nevertheless almost lost his new job over his badly bungled management of the massive snow removal job, particularly his ignorance of the needs of highly residential Queens, both The New York Times and Newsday reported.The disaster was witnessed in awe by Long Island commuters, who couldn't get to work.

Not only were there big storms in the 20th century, some earlier ones left marked impressions on the collective memory. Many storm students hold the blizzard of March 1888 in high esteem. That storm left behind 21 inches of snow in the New York metropolitan area. That was one of the most severe blizzards in United States' recorded history according to contemporary accounts. Said The New York Times:

"In a blizzard's grasp – the worst storm the city has ever known. Business and travel completely suspended. New York helpless in a tornado of wind and snow which paralyzed all industry, isolated the city from the rest of the country, caused many accidents and great discomfort, and exposed it to many dangers."

And one should not forget 1816, the worldwide "year without summer" as detailed in "Nassau and Suffolk," vol. 11, by Paul Bailey. Crops planted in May were killed by frost in June. On June 6, snow fell in Albany. The hurricane of Sept. 3, 1821, was another calamity, which caused "tremendous damage."

However, there is no doubt on the part of most Long Islanders that the storm of December 2010 is most important. To begin with, there was all that potentially record-breaking snow to shovel away and a splendid topic of conversation. To know the score on any particular storm, you can always check the National Weather Service web site or take a look at the historic storm study conducted by "Weather 2000," a long range weather forecasting and consulting firm based in New York City, which has produced a chart, "Historical Snowstorms Impacting New York City."

It is also satisfying to local pride to note that Port Washington, North Hempstead and Nassau County officials were able to announce that all major roads were cleared by Tuesday noon, as were almost all secondary roads. New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg could not make such a boast as he still faced the same vocal and persistent complaints from snowbound Queens residents that nearly brought down 1960s Mayor Lindsey almost before he got started. 

Fortunately, for Port Washington residents, our plow drivers and our clean-up crews knew what to do and did it cooperatively. If only they could have sent a plow over to my street to get rid of that mountain of snow at the corner.

Joan Gay Kent is the historian for the Town of North Hempstead  and president emerita of the .