It’s always a magical site to see Staten Island buried under a blanket of snow, with the streets temporarily clear of cars and only the most intrepid pedestrians on the sidewalks. Hopefully you stayed warm and safe while Winter Storm Juno’s arctic winds blew through the streets.
As dramatic as Juno’s news coverage was, the storm didn’t come close to some of the city’s biggest snow storms. Here are 7 of the biggest winter storms to hit Staten Island, according to the New York City Office of Emergency Management and Weather 2000.
45th Street and Grand Central Depot, March 1888, Source: NOAA’s National Weather Service Collection | via NYC.gov
March 11-14, 1888
After a warm March day, New Yorkers were surprised by a two-day blizzard that left the city buried in 21″ of snow. The freak storm was actually two storms — one coming from the north and one from the south — that met over the city, its 75-mph winds causing snow drifts that crippled the city for 14 days.
December 26-27, 1947
Until 2006, this winter storm — known by many as “The Big Snow” — held the record as the worst in New York City history. In two days, the storm dropped 26.4″ of snow on the city, and brought most of the Northeast to a standstill. Cars and buses were completely buried in snow, the subways stopped running, and 77 people lost their lives.
Satellite image of the 1978 blizzard |NOAA Natural Disaster Survey Report 78-1 via NYC.gov
February 6-7, 1978
This nor’easter broke snowfall records in Boston, Providence, and Atlantic City, and was responsible for about 100 deaths and 4,500 injuries across the Northeastern U.S. In New York, it dropped 17.7″ of snow — not enough to break any records but still enough to cause citywide school closings.
NOAA Satellite image of the 1993 Storm of the Century | NOAA via NYC.gov
March 12-14, 1993
This cyclonic superstorm, called “The Storm of the Century,” affected the entire eastern third of the U.S., with hurricane-force wind gusts and snow from Maine to Florida. The total damage by the storm exceeded $3 billion. In New York, 10.2 inches of snow fell on March 13 alone.
January 7-8, 1996
The winter of 1995-1996 brought 16 snowstorms and over 89 inches of snow to New York City. The biggest of these was a nor’easter which dumped 20.2 inches on Central Park and upwards of 30 inches on some of the outer boroughs and suburbs.
Winter storm, 2006 | Staten Island Advance via SI Live
February 11-12, 2006
With 26.9″ inches of snowfall recorded at Central Park, the Blizzard of 2006 holds the record as the biggest snow storm in New York history. It disrupted LIRR, Metro North, and MTA service, and hundreds of flights into and out of JFK and LaGuardia were cancelled. The City deployed 2,500 City workers to handle cleanup, and there were no major injuries reported.
Day after Christmas, 2010 | via Active Rain
December 26, 2010
On the day after Christmas, this nor’easter dropped more than 20″ of snow on the city, kicking off one of the snowiest NYC winters on record — including 56.1″ in January 2011. The city’s response to the blizzard seemed slow, and Mayor Bloomberg received a lot of criticism for his handling of the situation. Since this blizzard the city has been more likely to treat weather events as emergencies — a tendency which may have prepared the city for Hurricane Sandy in 2012.
To see more historical pictures from these storms, check out this article on The Daily Mail.
A version of this post originally appeared on ExploreBK.com.
