Two Inches of Snow, Sleet Make Travel Treacherous
Valentine's Day proved a perfect day to cuddle up at home, as snow, sleet, and freezing rain made traveling treacherous yesterday.
About 2 inches of the wintry mix had accumulated by the evening, according to the National Weather Service. The storm caused a host of airport and public transit delays.
While some commuter rail routes were subject to temporary service suspensions and delays of up to an hour, in New York City, subways ran on or close to schedule, a spokeswoman for New York City Transit, Deirdre Parker, said. In preparation for the storm, subway cars had been stored underground Tuesday night, instead of in outdoor rail yards. Train deicers ran along the city's elevated tracks yesterday, Ms. Parker said.
MTA buses system-wide were running 15 to 25 minutes behind schedule.
A spokesman for the Department of Sanitation, Keith Mellis, urged motorists to be patient yesterday as its fleet of 365 slower-moving plows and salt-spreaders attempted to clear city streets. The department's garbage trucks also have been equipped with snowplows, he said.
No serious weather-related incidents — extended airport delays, major traffic accidents, or a surge in homeless shelter populations, were reported yesterday — a spokesman for the city's Office of Emergency Management said.
Area restaurants offering prix-fixe Valentine's Day menus experienced some weather-related cancellations. At Chubo, a French-Japanese fusion restaurant on the Lower East Side, eight people, citing the weather, called to cancel their reservations, a host there said.
