Sunday morning snowfall blanketed the city, resulting in flight delays and icy roads

A Sunday snowstorm that delivered New York City its most significant early-season snowfall in years is expected to be followed by bitterly cold temperatures, according to the National Weather Service

The storm dropped widespread snow across the region throughout the morning, with much of the city and New Jersey metro area seeing three to five inches, said agency meteorologist Nelson Vaz. Higher totals were reported farther from the city, including on Long Island, where some areas received nearly 8 inches.

Central Park clocked a level of accumulation it hasn’t seen this early in the season since 2019, according to Vaz.

The snow complicated travel across the region, triggering flight disruptions at all of the area airports. According to the city, flights headed to JFK and LaGuardia were placed under a ground stop Sunday morning, meaning some planes were held at their departure airports for hours.

FlightAware reported growing delays around 1 p.m. with averages of about an hour and a half at LaGuardia and an hour and 45 minutes at both JFK and Newark.

Road conditions also deteriorated as the storm moved through.

The storm follows several winters of below-average snowfall, though forecasters said it’s too early to say what it means for the rest of the season. Predictions beyond one to two weeks are difficult, Vaz said. Still, he noted the region is currently in a weak La Niña pattern, which generally points to snowier conditions across parts of the northern U.S.

The coldest air mass of the season is expected to follow the weekend snowfall. “Tonight is going to be dropping into the teens with some pretty gusty winds,” Vaz said. “It’s going to feel more like it’s probably zero to five degrees above zero.”

Temperatures will rebound midweek, he said, when “an all rain event” arrives Thursday.

Vaz warned that the combination of wet snow and plunging temperatures could create hazardous conditions into Monday morning.

Anything that’s left on untreated surfaces is “gonna freeze hard,” he said. “It’s gonna get icy tonight into tomorrow morning’s commute.”

The snow stopped falling as afternoon approached, but some New Yorkers welcomed the conditions.

“I love it, I love winter, I love the snow,” said Westchester resident Renee Garnes who was working in lower Manhattan on Sunday. “It just makes the city look so clean and fresh for a minute.”

This story includes additional reporting from Jill Webb.