February 8-9 blizzard pictures, video February 11, 2013

Coming into February, it had been two years since a major winter storm impacted Long Island.  The previous winter only saw one storm in mid-January that left merely a few inches.  Other than that, there were minor accumulations left by premature mid-fall storms in October 2011 and November 2012, the latter coming nine days after Hurricane Sandy devastated my region.

But on Friday, February 8, Long Island was impacted by a major winter storm; a blizzard, in fact.  Most of Suffolk County got over two feet of snow.  And across Long Island Sound, parts of Connecticut got over three feet.

Newsday: Long Island snow totals (subscription required)
Woodbury-Middlebury Patch: Connecticut snow totals

Nassau County was spared the worst, getting around or under one foot.  Winds were gusty, but power stayed on.  In my neighborhood, I heard and saw Town of Hempstead trucks come by around the clock to plow my street.

The next few pictures were taken Friday night, as snow became heavy:

By the time I woke up in middle of Saturday morning, snow had ended and skies were slowly clearing.  As I looked out my windows before going downstairs to shovel, this is what I saw:

Once outside, I shot a few more pictures before getting to work:

Three grueling hours of shoveling followed.  About a half hour in, my sister checked on me.  I asked her to bring me a ruler to measure snow in the middle of the driveway, which I had yet to shovel.  The standard 12-inch ruler measured about 10 1/2 inches of snowfall.  Newsday’s official total for Wantagh was 11 inches.  Another half hour passed and my sister joined me in shoveling.  Then, our neighbor came by with his snow blower to finish what we started.

After shoveling paths to the backyard and an extra path to the curb, I took out my Nikon D3100 and shot these pictures:

I also shot video on my JVC Everio HD camcorder, which you can see here, preceded by video from Friday night on the D3100:

I had been outside for 3 1/2 hours, coming inside for a little while to eat eggs and bacon, and drink a glass of orange juice, for breakfast.  I was relieved to relax the rest of the day.  Parts of my body ached, but by the time I’m posting this on Monday afternoon, those aches have subsided.

As night came, I took one more picture:

If this is the only major storm Long Island gets this winter, it was certainly memorable.  But as lucky as my area was in getting under a foot of snow, I only wish my friends in Suffolk and Connecticut could have had the same luck.

Meanwhile, there could be more than one minor or moderate winter storm before spring; this Wednesday night, for example.