Three day weekend!
Brooklyn kids got their first snow day of the new year on Friday after a massive winter storm — dubbed Hercules by our pals at the Weather Channel — dumped six inches of snow on the borough, bringing bitterly cold weather with it.
The snow began falling at 6 pm on Thursday, and fell unabated until around 10 am Friday, with the windchill plummeting at times to a frigid -11-degree chill, the National Weather Service reported. When the furious flurries of the year’s first great snowstorm ceased, the clouds above Brooklyn parted and left a pristine sky.
But some Brooklynites could not wait for the snow to finish falling to begin battling it back.
John Tiedemann, a Bay Ridge construction worker, had work early in the morning, so he shoveled his sidewalk and driveway at 10 pm — then went back out at midnight and did it again ahead of his 4:30 am departure.
Good thing, because home and business owners are required to shovel the sidewalks outside their buildings and scofflaws could get fined from $100 to $350, according to the Department of Sanitation.
Anthony Marotto, another Ridgite, braced for the storm by taking his car off the street and pulling into his driveway at 1 am to avoid getting his ride packed into a snowdrift. He also stocked up on cigarettes.
“You just got to be prepared,” said Marotto. “I never let myself get stuck.”
Additional snow is not expected until later in the week, although winds persisted at speeds above 25 mph Friday, driving the wind chill below zero, according to the National Weather Service.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority spent Thursday night in preparation for Friday’s morning rush, rolling subway cars into the shelter of below-ground tunnels and strapping snow tires onto buses in preparation for Hercules.
As a result, trains ran local until later in the morning.
Meanwhile, the city’s bus fleet was reduced to 85-percent of full strength when it rolled out Friday morning, and delays mounted on account of the icy roads, according to a report sent from Gov. Cuomo’s office.
Alternate-side parking was suspended throughout the city from Thursday evening through Saturday, giving car-owners a chance to shovel themselves and their vehicles out of the snow, according to the Department of Transportation.
