The sun is shining today on the North Fork as kids get ready for a snow day and the highway department continues with the big cleanup.
Southold Town Highway Superintendent Vincent Orlando said overnight, drifting was an issue. “We stayed out until almost midnight, plowing and sanding,” he said. Crews were out bright and early this morning and, throughout the day, will continue to clean up corners and address areas where drifting occurred.
All roads in Southold Town are open today. All North Fork schools are closed.
The half inch dusting of snow that the town received overnight made no impact on clean-up operations, Orlando said.
“I think that Southold’s Highway Department proved once again that the workers there are the cream of the crop,” Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said. He added that even though the sun is shining, cleanup Wednesday is “going to be a challenge as we try to get rid of the snow. Plowing it out of the street is one thing. Finding places to put the mountains of snow is a whole new ballgame.”
Meanwhile, all eyes have been on the North Fork during the Blizzard of 2015, as Suffolk County was hardest hit. Orient led the pack for snowfall accumulations in the county, with the highest accumulation of snow reported, at 30 inches.
Riverhead saw upwards of 16.1 inches, with higher totals factored in for drifting, and Mattituck was waloped with 26.9 inches. Flanders saw an accumulation of 22 inches.
Tim Morrin, meteorologist for the National Weather Service office in Upton, said residents shouldn’t put away their shovels just yet. Residents should expect a relatively minor system to pass through our area late Thursday night and into Friday,” he said.
“It’s a fast moving system coming from the west, a clipper,” Morrin said. He added the system is expected to bring another inch of light snow. While it won’t affect the Thursday evening commute, it could make for slippery conditions on the way to work Friday morning, so residents should drive safely.
Temperatures are expected to remain very cold over the next few days, too. Thursday will see a minimum temperature of 29 degrees. Friday, temps are slated to drop as a fresh batch of Arctic air comes in, with temps Friday night expected to hover around six degrees, and wind chills of below zero. Saturday, the North Fork is expected to see a high of 22 degrees, with a low Saturday night of nine degrees. Sunday’s high is expected to reach only 27.
Next up, Sunday night into Monday, Morrin said there’s a likelihood of some snow developing, but he said it’s too soon to predict accumulations. Other guidance suggests a warmer scenario, in which case residents could be in store for rain, instead.
“It’s all in the track for this one,” he said. If the storm tracks north, it will be rain, if it comes in from the south, snow will fall.
The storm will be heading our way from the middle of the country with origins in the Pacific before it sweeps across the southern states and across Ohio River Valley.
‘It does have the potential be impactful,” Morrin said, urging residents to stay tuned to local forecasts and stay prepared.
