Heavy snowfall for Shelter Island
Heavy snow fell on Shelter Island starting early this morning, as the National Weather Service kept in place its Winter Storm Watch, and a Coastal Flood Advisory through Tuesday evening.
A Storm Watch means the potential for heavy snow of at least 6 inches in 12 hours, or at least 8 inches in 24 hours. A Coastal Flood Advisory means that flooding over beaches, dunes and roads is imminent, or expected within 12 hours. High tide today will be a little past 1 p.m.
Shelter Island Highway Superintendent Ken Lewis told the Reporter late this morning that there were no emergencies to report. Mr. Lewis had just left a meeting with Supervisor Amber Brach-Williams and Police Chief Jim Read and other members of the town’s emergency management team, and “So far, so good,” was the consensus, he said.
“We don’t have any power outages and everything seems to be OK,” Mr. Lewis said. “I’m watching coastal areas, especially West Neck and Ram Island Road, for flooding. It looks like according to weather reports I’ve been watching that we’ll be out of the woods by around 3:30, when the snow stops and the sun comes out.”
The Highway Department had pre-treated roads earlier to combat ice, and teams have been out on the roads this morning. “We’re dropping blades and scraping,” Mr. Lewis said.
The forecast from the NWS for today is for heavy snow through the afternoon and a high temperature near 36 degrees. It will be breezy, with a north wind at 16 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. That will bring wind chill values of between 20 and 25 degrees.
The NWS is calling for possibly 6 to 10 inches of snow, but other forecasters are calling for less snow.
Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low around 27 degrees, with windchill values between 15 and 20 degrees from a northwest wind of 9 to 11 mph. Tomorrow, Valentine’s Day, will be a bright, sunny day, with a high near 35 degrees, but will feel colder, with wind chill values between 15 and 25 degrees, according to the NWS.
