An Al Story™

New York City - February 17, 2003

As I write this, it has been snowing in NY for 16 hours straight and the meteorologists are telling us to expect it to continue for at least another 9 hours. Snow levels range from 12.5 inches in Central Park to 18 inches in Huntington, Long Island. Over 2 feet of snow has been reported in parts of New Jersey.

Kennedy and Newark Liberty airports are barely open. LaGuardia is closed. (I guess that I was fortunate to fly in yesterday. The snow started just as I landed.)

But the good news is that.........Bloomingdales is open! (This was just announced like a major bulletin on the local news.)

Sounds like a blizzard. Well let's check the official definition of a blizzard. The National Weather Service defines a blizzard as:

  • wind gusts of 35 mph or higher
  • visibility of 1/4 mile or less

Well we have wind gusts of 36 miles per hour and occasional white outs. Ladies and gentlemen we have a blizzard!

A friend on the Upper West Side is reporting that there are no cars on Broadway. I'm warmly ensconced at Donad Trump's Grand Hyatt at 42nd & Lex where the cab line this morning was over 60 people long. I decided to reschedule my appointments at Toy Fair for tomorrow.

The show must go on??

I'm kind of bummed out because Live With Regis & Kelly was on tape this morning. I so much wanted to hear their inimitable take on the megastorm (including Regis' account of his harrowing walk from his deluxe apartment in the sky all the way across Columbus Avenue to his studio!).

While Regis and Kelly are on tape, The Late Show With David Letterman (with special guest Dr. Phil) will be live tonight. I'm tempted to make my way down to the Ed Sullivan Theater this evening because there's a very good chance that the majority of ticket holders won't show up. (During the blizzard of '96 the theater was more than half empty)

A big storm

What makes this storm special is its size and how sloooowly it's moving up the east coast. Let's take a look at the radar.

 

Pretty impressive.

The Mayor speaks

New York City Mayor Bloomberg has just come on TV to brief the citizenry of NY. He's wearing an official New York Department of Sanitation cap that says "Mayor" underlined with 5 stars. (Should we start addressing him as General Bloomberg?)

He's also wearing an official blue jacket (official what - I can't tell) and a blue pullover sweater that features a big American flag. (Why am I telling you all about the sartorial nature of the Mayor? Read on.)

Here's what we've learned from the Mayor......

And I quote: The snow is:

  • Very pretty
  • Very inconvenient
  • Very Expensive

(As a rule of thumb, they use $1 million/inch of snow as the cost of plowing and cleanup)

During the last major snowstorm in 1996 it took them 42 hours to get every street in the city plowed.

Don't drive - take the subways. Once again quoting the Mayor, the subways are:

  • Very cheap
  • Very quick
  • Very inexpensive

Lastly, he told us to "Have a nice day" and "Chill out tomorrow morning" because the commute will be a mess.

My Plan

I'm going to:

  • chill out today
  • stay inside and stay warm (ahhh - room service) (By the way we're working on a story about the best and worst room service menus around the world. Do you have a favorite or least favorite. Email us and share your story)
  • catch up on some work and...
  • play it by ear

In reality, as blizzards go this one is kind of mild. For a taste of a real blizzard, check out my story on the Great New England Blizzard of '78. (plus you'll learn why I was focused on what Mayor Bloomberg was wearing)

THE DAY AFTER UPDATE: Posted 2/18/03

Woke up this morning to snow flurries. One of the meteorologists said that it was similar to an earthquake aftertremor. Those of us who live in earthquake country beg to differ.

The official snowfall measurement was 19.8 inches in Central Park. This makes yesterday the 4th snowiest day in NY. In 3rd place with 20.2 inches was the blizzard of 1996.

The maid (or room attendant) told me that only 25 of the hotel's 200 maids showed up for work yesterday. They only cleaned the rooms of the people who were staying over. Since hardly anyone was checking in, they didn't clean the rooms of the people who checked out . (Meanwhile hundreds of people slept at the airport last night)

Lat night the show did go on. 6 of the 7 scheduled Broadway shows had performances last night. Only Phantom of the Opera was cancelled.

The airports are open, but with reduced service. For you fashion afficianados, the Mayor was wearing the exact same outfit (including the American flag sweater) as yesterday. Michael Dukakis has nothing to worry about.

Things are slowly getting back to normal. Many people are staying home another day so the city is relatively empty. (The "experts" are saying that it can take up to 6 hours to dig out a car that has been plowed in)

Cabs are more plentiful, but nowhere near full armada strength. Buses and trains are running on reduced holiday schedules. But as the day wears on, delays are getting worse, not better.

The Mayor reported that 100% of primary and 90% of secondary streets have been plowed. With regards to tertiary streets, well...that's another matter. Sorry Staten Island.

If you want to pick up some extra bucks you can head out to one of the Sanitation Department garages to sign up to be a snow shoveler. The pay is $8.43/hour.

Speaking of shoveling, one interesting story is that the sidewalk in front of the Mayor's townhouse was shoveled at 6AM yesterday morning. And at 8AM etc etc etc. What would we ever do without the newscrew broadcasting live from outside his honors house?

I was however impressed by the newscrew who dug out a random car on the street. They were hoping that the car's owner would come out while they were still there.

An Al Travel Tip™ - When digging out your car, make sure that you clear the tailpipe of snow. In an unfortunate incident this morning, one person in the Bronx died of carbon monoxide poisoning from a clogged tailpipe.

I'm off to brave the streets and try to find a cab to take me to the Javits Convention Center. Wish me luck.

Continue to: The Great New England Blizzard of '78