Power nor-easter touches down on Oyster Bay and surrounding villages

Larry Schmidlapp, the mayor of Centre Island, gave it a go and went outside to shovel the walkway leading to his driveway. By the afternoon on Monday the snow had lessened, he said, so he thought he would try to shovel what was there before it began snowing again. 

"Two hours later it looked like I didn't do anything at all," he said. "It has been relentless how much the snow is blowing."

The snow, which began during the early morning hours, has been accumulating on the front lawns and vehicles of North Shore residents.

“It’s snowing almost an inch every minute,” said 20-year-old Bayville resident Neil Noviello, who was out Monday morning with his friend Teddy Morfis shoveling and plowing driveways and walkways in Bayville and Locust Valley. “It’s light snow. It’s not as heavy as it was for the last storm. I would not recommend going out, the roads have not been plowed at all yet.”

A massive nor'easter out of the west swept across Long Island early Monday, and prognosticators say it could drop up to a foot or more of snow across the area by Tuesday, with wind gusts expected to reach 30 to perhaps as high as 60 miles per hour.

Nassau County and town officials urged people to stay off the roads during the storm if they could.  Road conditions were already "treacherous" by Monday morning.

“The worst of the snow storm is yet to hit the Town of Oyster Bay,” said Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino in a Monday morning statement. “We can expect blizzard conditions and very dangerous driving through this afternoon.”

Crews will continue to plow roads, Saladino said, and he asked that residents keep their cars off the street whenever possible. This will enable the plows to more effectively clear the roadways.

"Wind is going to play a significant role in this storm," said County Executive Laura Curran during a news conference Sunday. "We're talking about blizzard-like conditions . . . It's going to be heavy, wet snow with a lot of wind."

"As the day goes on, conditions are going to get more dangerous for driving," Curran said.

Two to five inches were expected to fall by the time of the morning commute at 9 a.m., and additional snow was expected to accumulate throughout the day.

School districts across the county closed ahead of the storm, including the Oyster Bay-East Norwich Central School District and the Locust Valley Central School District. Both will have a traditional snow day with no in-person or remote instruction.

The Jones Beach vaccination center also closed Monday because of the storm.

For your hyperlocal forecast by zip code, see the National Weather Service here.

Power outages were expected. To report one, go to PSEGliny.com. According to the utility company’s map, there are approximately five outages on the North Shore, including two near Old Brookville and three between Bayville and Centre Island. Approximately 44 customers are affected.

Bayville Mayor Bob De Natale said he was unaware of the outages in his village but would look into it. Power outages should be minimalized during this storm because telephone poles were buried underground on Shore Road utilizing federal funding. Some are probably connected to certain Bayville homes. The utility poles in Locust Valley, Bayville and Matinecock have been replaced with higher ones, possibly to be sure they are not near trees avoiding power outages, he said.

As for how Bayville is doing in general as of Monday morning, De Natale said there was only one issue. “There was a planned garbage pickup for this morning but once the men saw how bad the snow was it was cancelled,” he said. “Otherwise, everything else is on target here.”  

The Town of Oyster Bay is currently offering two warming centers on Monday at the Marjorie Post Park Ice Rank in Massapequa and at the Town of Oyster Bay Ice Skating Center in Bethpage.

Individuals without shelter are urged to contact the Department of Social Services, which has activated it’s Winter Sheltering Program, known as WARMBED, at (516) 277-8519 during daytime hours. Between 6 and 8 p.m. residents should dial the WARMBED hotline at 1-866-927-6233.

Expect delays and service disruptions on the Long Island Rail Road and NICE Bus. For more on NICE Bus, go to nicebus.com and for more on the LIRR, go to mta.info.