Snowfall nearly sets single-day record at MacArthur Airport

The 23.2 inches of snow that fell Saturday nearly set a single-day record at Long Island MacArthur Airport, but the 24.7 inches that fell there over Friday and Saturday was well short of the 33 inches that buried parts of the Island over two days in the Blizzard of 2013.

Saturday's total at MacArthur nearly matched the single-day record of 23.4 inches from Jan. 23, 2016, at the airport, where records have been kept since 1963, according to the National Weather Service.

This weekend's blizzard recorded the highest snowfall in Orient, where powder measured Sunday morning at more than 25 inches, according to trained weather spotters.

It was also the first confirmed blizzard since 2018, meeting the criteria of blowing and falling snow that creates visibility a quarter-mile or less and 35 mph winds for three consecutive hours.

"It was definitely a significant storm," meteorologist James Tomasini said. "The track was pretty much perfect for Long Island to see a nice snowfall."

But even though this weekend’s storm packed a wallop that shut down streets and the LIRR, Long Islanders may remember the 2013 blizzard that stranded drivers on the Long Island Expressway.

In that storm, the National Weather Service recorded 33 inches of snow in Medford over Feb. 8 and 9 and set a record of 30.9 inches at the weather station in Upton. That storm broke a record of 26.3 inches of snow that had been set in 2009.

Medford recorded 23.5 inches of snow Saturday and Upton logged 16.1 inches for this weekend’s storm.

Weather officials said there may have been higher amounts of snow across Long Island than what was measured or recorded.

By John Asbury

john.asbury@newsday.comJohnAsbury

John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.