Nor’easter Winter Storm Gail December 2020: Sound Shore Warnings, Advisories, Updates

Written By: Robert Cox

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — As a Nor’easter bears down on New Rochelle and the neighboring Sound Shore communities get ready for a large dump of snow, high winds, impassable roads and power outages. We will use this post to keep residents informed below with updates on Winter Storm Gail from the various state and local authorities.

IMAGE UPDATES – TALK OF THE SOUND HQ

12:00 PM – 12/16 Roads salted, cloud cover, no precipitation, low wind speed.

2:00 PM 12-16 windspeed up to 13 mph out of the Northeast

4:30 PM getting dark, windspeed up to 15 mph out of the Northeast with gusts up to 32 mph

8:00 PM it is dark, windy and wet, 18 mph wind blowing out of the Northeast, gusting to 38 mph.

8:00 AM light out but overcast, temperatures in the 20s, winds are 18 mph out of the North, gusting to 38 mph, snow totals

We would encourage readers to click our “reality check” article written after Tropical Storm Isaias.

The article offers a great deal of information on how to be most effective BEFORE a storm hits like signing up for alerts or notifying Con Ed of sick/elderly persons that rely on Con Ed services. It is also a warning on the sorts of hyperbolic, uninformed accounts you are likely to encounter in the media.

Our suggestion is to stay calm — the grocery stores will NOT run out of bread, eggs or milk by the end of the day tomorrow! Do not go out during the storm. Give service crews time to clear streets and restore power.

Want to help with snow clean up? Park cars off-street to make room for plows! There is free parking at New Roc and the New Rochelle train station.

A Reality Check on How New Rochelle Works in an Emergency

Grownups will take responsibility for educating themselves on policies, procedures and laws; registering for appropriate alert services; putting utilities and governments on notice of special circumstances; and otherwise understanding how the community where they reside works. They will appreciate that when a massive storm disrupts a large area of the country it will take more than a single evening to restore everything back to the way it was the night before.

If you want to stew and fret and whine about the injustice of your not getting immediate gratification for your demands go right ahead and see what that gets you. Or you can follow the advice above — be proactive instead of an infant deprived of their rattle.

National Weather Service

New York State Thruway

New York State Department of Transportation

New York State Police

Metro-North Railroad

Con Edison

The winds and the weight of the snow expected to fall on Wednesday could bring down power lines, causing customers to lose power and creating a safety hazard. In addition, road salt will mix with melting snow and can damage underground electrical wiring, possibly leading to outages.

Customers can sign up for text alerts here. Customers can also report outages and check service restoration status here, or with Con Edison’s mobile app for iOS or for Android, or by calling 1-800-75-CONED (1-800-752-6633).

No reported power outages as of 10 am Dec 17

SUEZ Water

To report a water issue, contact Suez Water at 914-632-6900

Altice/Optimum Cable

To report a disruption with your cable service, contact Altice/ Optimum at 855-267-8468

Verizon Fios

To report a disruption with your cable service, contact Verizon at 1.800.837.4966

City of New Rochelle

Park cars off-street to make room for plows.

Free parking at the New Roc Garage & New Rochelle Transit Center Garage will be available starting at 11am on Wednesday, December 16th through Sunday, December 20th. Normal meter regulations will resume on Monday, December 21st, 2020.

Garbage collection is cancelled for both Thursday in the north end and Friday in the south end.

After the storm, please clear sidewalks and fire hydrants adjacent to your property. And, when digging out cars, please do not throw snow back into the street.

DPW will be working continuously through tonight and tomorrow — and, quite possibly, Friday and Saturday as well, but many streets may not be completely cleared for an extended period.

City School District of New Rochelle

Due to the anticipated snowstorm, all students will participate in virtual, asynchronous learning tomorrow, December 17, 2020, unless the storm causes widespread power outages. In that case, I will declare a snow day for tomorrow, suspending all instruction, and I will announce the decision in a Robocall and on the District website.

Pelham Manor

Refuse and recycling schedule for the second half of this week will be adjusted to accommodate snow operations and give residents an opportunity to clear a path to their trash cans for collectors. Collection scheduled for Thursday will be done on Friday and Friday’s collection will be done on Saturday.

Residents are asked to keep auto travel to a minimum in order to facilitate plowing operations. In addition to street plowing, the sidewalk plow will be deployed after the storm ends. It will take the full day to complete sidewalk plowing operations.

Please remember to create a safe and clear path to your refuse containers. Slip and fall accidents during the winter months is the number one cause of employee injury.

Village of Mamaroneck

While residents may put out their trash following their normal collection schedule, they should understand that collection delays are expected during ongoing snow operations. Our Public Works employees who collect trash and recycling are the same employees who clear the snow. If possible, please kindly move vehicles parked on streets. This will help our Public Works employees be able to get the snow removed off the streets and get our streets open.

If you have not done so already, please bring inside any loose, lightweight objects. Keep snow and ice 3 feet away from fire hydrants. In case of fire, our firefighters need to be able to get to the hydrants quickly. Finally, please also remember to check-in on elderly neighbors and those who may need assistance.

Mamaroneck Union Free School District

Wednesday 12/16: The morning pod will attend school for in-person learning 8:10 am — 10:10 am. The afternoon pod will attend school for in-person learning 10:40 am — 12:40 pm.

A follow-up note from your building principal further detailing the asynchronous/synchronous learning schedule for tomorrow will arrive shortly.

Thursday 12/17: If it is necessary to close school due to inclement weather on Thursday (which we suspect will be the case), there will be no expectation of remote learning during the closure time period. It would be a traditional snow day. Students would not participate in online learning; our hybrid model of instruction would resume when school reopens.

Bee-Line Buses and ParaTransit

Bee-Line buses and ParaTransit service will be suspended effective at 7pm this evening. All scheduled trips prior to 7pm will be operated. All routes will remain suspended until further notice.

Bee-Line buses and ParaTransit service will resume today 12/17 at 12pm. Buses are on a regular weekday schedule.

Bee-Line and Paratransit buses are running on or close to schedule.

The following routes are running on the standard snow detour:

Routes 8, 13, 19, 30, and 32.

Route 9 Southbound in Yonkers detouring from Ashburton Avenue,

LT to Park Avenue, back to regular route

Route 45 Northbound in New Rochelle is detouring from Pelham Road,

LT on North Avenue, RT on Main Street, back to regular route.

Route 45 Southbound in New Rochelle is detouring from Main Street,

RT on North Avenue, RT on Pelham Road, back to regular route.

Iona CollegeIona will be closing at 2pm today. Online classes continue as scheduled.

Iona College campus will be closed on Thursday, 12/17. Online classes will continue as scheduled.

Iona Prep

Town of Port Chester

Green Waste Pickup scheduled for Wednesday December 16th is suspended and will resume Wednesday January 30th.

Bulk Pickup remains scheduled for Wednesday and we ask that you place such items on curbs not before 4:00 PM (Tuesday) and not after 4:00 AM on Wednesday December 16th as DPW crews will be collecting this material much earlier than usual to ensure that our streets are clear before any snowfall.

Sanitation crews will also work to perform the Thursday December 17th trash/ refuse collection Wednesday as well- Friday collection will remain as scheduled.

All recycling will be picked up on Friday December 18th.

The DPW Yard will be closed both Wednesday & Thursday to the public and will resume normal drop off operations on Friday December 18th at 7:30 AM.

Village administrative offices will continue to operate with the COVID-19 hybrid functionality it adopted and has utilized since March. 

Justice Court window hours are operational from 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM.

All seniors who receive home delivered meals will receive one warm meal on Wednesday and a cold meal for them to use for Thursday.

The Feeding Westchester produce delivery scheduled for Wednesday has been moved to Friday December 18th.

Port Chester School District

Village of Pelham

No recycling pickup in Area A on Thur. 12/17. Area A pickup will be Fri. 12/18 & Area B will be Sat. 12/19.

Pelham School District

New Rochelle Public Library

Closed indefinitely as of 3 pm Wednesday 12/16.

Rye City Schools

All schools closed Thursday 12/17.