March 5 winter storm pictures, March 6 aftermath pictures March 6, 2015

In a 52-hour period, my area went from snow to sleet and freezing rain to rain and back.

It all began late Tuesday afternoon. A couple of inches of snow fell before the evening changeover, but it was washed away by the rain. Temperatures got as high as the mid 40s on Wednesday, allowing me to clear any slush set into the driveway by tire tracks.

For a while, it seemed like there wouldn’t be too much snow on Thursday. Computer forecast models were pushing the snow south. But as night fell, the models yanked the storm back north and had it starting and ending later. 4 to 8 inches of snow were forecast, with News 12 Long Island upping that to 5 to 10 on Thursday morning.

The rain changed to wet snow at around sunrise, switching to regular snow as the morning progressed and temperatures fell.

By afternoon, temperatures were down in the mid 20s and the snow continued to accumulate. I periodically brought my standard ruler to the driveway to measure. There were 2 inches at 11:40 AM, 4 1/2 inches at 2:22 PM, and 7 inches by 4:12.

But at 4:40, even though it was still snowing, I went out to the driveway and began shoveling. My sister came home ten minutes after I started and helped me shovel. We finished at 5:30.

After an hour break, which included a dinner of pasta and homemade ground turkey meat sauce, I went back outside for more shoveling. By now, the snow had ended. Another inch had fallen on top of what I shoveled earlier. This time, I only took a half hour.

The 8 inches of snow in my driveway matched the snow totals in Levittown, North Merrick, and Rockville Centre, according to the National Weather Service. Melville and East Northport ended up with 9 inches.

March 5:
8:26 AM:

11:19 AM:

1:02 PM:

2:18 PM:

5:43 PM, after shoveling with help from my sister:

7:31 PM, after additional shoveling:

March 6:
9:57 AM:

Temperatures were in the low 20s, but the March sun was strong enough to melt the snow anyway. The high today was 30 degrees.

10:19 AM:

11:28 AM:

2:55 PM:

This is the last day with high temperatures below freezing for the foreseeable future, and maybe even for the season. And if this turned out to be the last snow of the season, it went out on a high note.