What Today's Snow Squall Looked Like In New York City
On Wednesday, as Arctic-like winds slammed cities across the US Midwest, NYC metropolitan area residents got 20 minutes of very, very intense snow, wind and cold. This was officially called a snow "squall," which, according to Merriam-Webster, is a "sudden violent wind often with rain or snow," and came with little warning other than a tweet from NYC mayor Bill DeBlasio.
Indeed, in a matter of what seemed like seconds, and clearing up as suddenly as it began, violent winds reaching up to 50 mph dumped snow onto New York City streets, halting air traffic, highways and no doubt pedestrians who were unable to find cover. Unlike other high-velocity wind storms, a "squall" specifically means that winds are constantly changing, making low-flying air travel particularly precarious.
Since most of us here at TPG were fortunate enough to be safely indoors, we took to Twitter to see what the storm looked like around the city. The video below, taken near Manhattan's Hudson Yards, illustrates the storm's speed and intensity as it moves across the Hudson River and into the city.
Across the island, near Manhattan's Lower East side, the Williamsburg Bridge turned only halfway-visible, with Brooklyn completely shrouded in clouds, in what more resembles an apocalyptic movie scene than a snow storm.
Just a few miles away in Queens, LaGuardia airport didn't look much better.
And what did it look like at TPG HQ? Something like this...
Here's to our new favorite word for our less-than-favorite weather event: the squall.
