William Farrington
New Yorkers woke up to a light coat of snow on the ground for the first day of winter Saturday. But while the fluffy ground cover will help supercharge the holiday spirit, those hoping for a White Christmas will need a miracle to happen.
“The snow’s pretty much over at this point,” Fox Weather meteorologist Marissa Lautenbacher told The Post Saturday morning.
The National Weather Service defines a “White Christmas” as one inch or more of snow on the ground as of 7 a.m. Dec. 25. “So it doesn’t necessarily mean snow is falling on Christmas,” Lautenbacher explained.
But with temps expected to rise above freezing before the holiday, “this two inches of snow, I really don’t see it sticking around,” she added.
The last time New Yorkers saw a White Christmas was in 2009, with 2 inches glistening over the city.
Saturday’s snowfall totals in the metro area ranged from 1.8 inches in both Central Park and at JFK Airport, to 2 inches at LaGuardia Airport and 2.2 inches in Newark, NJ.
The morning storm didn’t come at the most wonderful time of the year for those boarding flights on one of the busiest travel days of the season.
Both LaGuardia and JFK reported delays of up to 1 hour, 49 minutes, as well as gate holds and airborne delays for incoming flights. About 19% of LaGuardia flights were delayed, along with about 23% of JFK’s flights, according to flight tracking service FlightAware.
At Newark Liberty Airport, about 18% of flights were delayed. All three area airports saw a handful of flight cancellations as well.
Temperatures are expected to climb to a high in Central Park of 34 degrees Saturday, but plunge down to as low as 20 overnight.
“Tonight and the rest of the weekend is when the cold comes through into Monday,” Lautenbacher said.
“We lose a lot of our heating overnight.”
Sunday will be the coldest day leading up to Christmas, with a high of 26 degrees, which will also be the coldest day so far of this year’s meteorological winter, which started on Dec 1.
“The last time it was colder was earlier this year, January 17, at 24 degrees,” Lautenbacher said.
However, there is a silver lining to Sunday, which will bring some rays of sunshine.
“The sunshine will make it feel a little bit warmer,” she said.