Shovel, Shovel, Toil and Trouble

Winter snow storm No. 2 blasted Bayport residents with a foot of snow and drifts nearing 14 inches. The snow caused  to cancel school and all after-school activities, including the high school's jazz concert scheduled for Wednesday evening.

While the first major snow storm of 2011 dropped less snow on Islip than the post Christmas blizzard two weeks ago, town crews were still faced with a handful of challenges when clearing local streets, which included near whiteout conditions during the overnight hours, Supervisor Phil Nolan told Patch.

“The blizzard was a more elongated storm that presented more challenges overall,” he said. “But our crews during this storm faced some difficult conditions for a couple of hours after 2 a.m. What helped us though was that most of the snow stopped falling (across the township) by 7 a.m.”

Nolan said the town went fully operational around midnight and that crews worked through the overnight hours into the day on Wednesday plowing streets across Islip. At this point, with the streets plowed, he said the next immediate task is salting and sanding roads to provide safe driving conditions.

“We had a lot of melting today with the Sun out, but that water will now freeze overnight,” he explained. “We will have crews out tonight and on Thursday morning (treating the roads) an also cleaning up street corners as well.”

Local residents took to their driveways and walkways, shoveling the mounds of snow and spreading salt. Some even used this as a time to drive in their 4-wheeler ATVs instead of cars.

Kelly Kirschenheiter from Bayport said her and her family were ready for this storm because they had supplies leftover from the December blizzard. "I think it was better this time with people being prepared and the town plowing," she said.

Supervisor Nolan reported that Islip had approximately 275 pieces of equipment on the streets clearing the 1,100 miles of roadway that fall under the responsibility of the town.

Yet, Kirschenheiter emphasized that she wished the town was more diligent in terms of plowing and salting. "There is a lot of snow and they actually plowed our road this time, so it's passable, but still a lot of snow around the corners," Kirschenheiter said.

Thankfully, the sun poked out this afternoon and has already melted a good deal of the snow on main roads, making it safer for commuters and travelers.

Check back with Patch for updates on the conditions.