Long Beach gears up for blizzard

City officials are preparing for the first major snowstorm of the season, and the city announced that it was declaring a snow emergency at 5 p.m. in order to allow for snow removal operations throughout the evening. As a result, some roads will be declared snow emergency routes and owners will be required to remove their vehicles.

The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for Thursday from 6 p.m. to Friday, 1 p.m., when light-freezing rain is expected to turn into a steady falling snow. Blowing snow is predicted, and accumulations are expected to be from 6 to 10 inches. Winds will be from the north at 10 to 30 mph with gusts of up to 35 mph. A coastal flood advisory remains in effect until noon, and a coastal flood watch remains in effect this evening.

Temperatures will fall from the mid 30s today to the 20s tonight and into the teens by Friday. Wind chills will make if feel like zero or below zero on Friday.

Even as the city recovers from Hurricane Sandy, officials said street maintenance crews are fully prepared for the latest winter storm with snow removal vehicles and salt and sand spreaders ready to go when snow starts to fall. Plowing will begin when 3 inches of snow has accumulated.

“We have established snow emergency routes that are posted on our website, and they’re cleared of vehicles and snow in the order that is listed,” said City spokesman Gordon Tepper. “We recently obtained new plows for the boardwalk and last year we got new snow emergency vehicles, which was a requirement because we lost our snow emergency vehicles in Sandy.”

Some of those vehicles are more maneuverable along some of the city's narrow streets, Tepper said.

“We are prepared to clear the snow on every street in the city, and we are coordinating with Nassau County and New York State,” he said. "The City of Long Beach and Nassau County are coordinating closely regarding this evening's storm. Please be assured that the Long Beach Bridge will remain open and safe this evening."