Rare spring nor’easter dumps over a foot of snow in New York

The late season winter storm has led to power outages across the northeast

Parts of upstate New York and northeast Pennsylvania have been covered in snow as a rare spring storm caps off an unseasonably cold few days in the region.

The National Weather Service in Binghamton, New York had recorded over 14 inches of snow by 10am on Tuesday, with other parts of the state notching up to 18 inches. Parts of northeast Pennsylvania also recorded up to 14 inches of snow by Tuesday morning.

The storm has caused power outages in the area, according to poweroutage.us, with over 200,000 customers reporting outages across New York and Pennsylvania.

Other parts of the northeast, including New York City, missed out on the snowy conditions but saw multiple inches of rain fall by early Tuesday.

Yet nearly all of the northeast was colder than usual for the time of year. Binghamton normally sees an average temperature of about 8 degrees Celsius (46 Fahrenheit), instead of yesterday’s average of about 1.5C (35F).

In New York City’s Central Park, where temperatures would normally average about 13C (55F), Monday saw temperatures averaging around 8C (46F), according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

The rain is expected to clear most the area by Wednesday, and temperatures increase by the end of the week, according to NWS.

Nor’easters — a type of storm unique to the eastern United States — form as the jet stream pushes colder air from the Arctic down towards the warm waters of Gulf Stream in the western Atlantic Ocean, according to NWS.

The agency reports that these storms typically form between early autumn and mid-spring, bringing heavy rain and snow, along with strong winds.

While the climate crisis won’t completely eliminate these storms, they may decrease in overall frequency.

In a warmer climate, some of the more common, smaller snowstorms would become less frequent in the Northeast, according to a 2018 study from the National Center for Atmospheric Research. But the study also found that the region would still see about the same number of infrequent high-impact storms.