Messy NY Commute as Snowfall May Be Most in April Since 2003

(Bloomberg) -- New York woke up to an April snowstorm, with about 5 inches (13 centimeters) of snow expected to produce slushy streets and a tough morning commute before the precipitation starts to wrap up about 11 a.m.

Snow fell across northern New Jersey at a rate of about an inch an hour early Monday, with a winter weather advisory stretching from Pennsylvania to southeast Massachusetts. At least 93 flights were canceled at John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports as of 6:50 a.m.

The last time New York got more than 4 inches of snow in April was 2003, according to a National Weather Service tweet. The latest storm follows a string of nor'easters that hit the East Coast in March, with heavy snows and damaging winds that knocked out power to more than 2 million customers at their peak.

“Snow will be moving out late morning for the city,” said Jay Engle, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Upton, New York. “Then instant meltage should begin because of the higher sun angle.”

There were reports of as much as 6 inches across central Pennsylvania and 3.5 inches in northern New Jersey, said Brian Hurley, senior branch forecaster at the U.S. Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

Normal highs for early April hover in the mid-50s Fahrenheit (about 12 Celsius) and “it won't take much to get back there,” Engle said. By Wednesday, the temperature in New York's Central Park is expected to reach a high of 62 degrees Fahrenheit.

To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Reg Gale, Debarati Roy

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