February did not arrive quietly this year. Instead, Winter Storm Orlena blanketed New York City with the largest single snow event it’s seen in five years. According to the National Weather Service, 17.2 inches of snow was officially recorded Tuesday morning in New York’s Central Park.
Until Orlena, a three-day storm in January 2016 held the record for the most amount of snow to fall in Central Park with 27.5 inches. As a shorter weather event, the rate and amount of snow Orlena delivered to New York City broke this official benchmark and the winter storm now ranks in the top 20 recorded snowfalls in Central Park.
NY City Lens takes a look at this historic storm and subsequent snow removal by the numbers.
- 17.2 inches of snow recorded in New York City’s Central Park
- 7,982: the total number of snow management equipment in the city. By borough, here’s the breakdown:
- Bronx: 1,167
- Brooklyn: 2,246
- Manhattan: 1,359
- Queens: 2,413
- Staten Island: 797
- 16 tons: the amount of rock salt each salt spreader can hold
- 19,000: the total number of lane-miles (a mile of roadway in a single driving lane) cleared by NYC Sanitation during snow events
- 1,500: the number of snow plow routes throughout New York City
- 300,000 tons of rock salt: the amount stored at 42 storage sites across New York City
