With Monday rush on tap, scenes from the snow

At Penn Station, falling snow dusted the underground platforms. (Photo by Twitter user @KaneTakerfan4)

It’s always an adventure in New York City when snow descends upon the area, and after a rough winter in early 2010, the city was ready for the torrential snow that fell throughout the day on Sunday. I had plans to spend a few days early this week in Philadelphia, and my girlfriend and I opted to leave on Sunday morning instead of Monday to beat the storm. A few hours after we arrived in the City of Brotherly Love, New Jersey Transit canceled its bus service, and train schedules through Penn Station will out of whack.

But Monday dawns a new work week. Although many are on vacation during the week after Christmas and before New Years, many industries aren’t shut down, and that includes New York City Transit. Numerous above-ground routes will see reduced or canceled service, and Transit is doing what it can to get everything up and running for the morning rush. Per their statement on Sunday night, trains will operate on a “normal weekday schedule” for the morning commute, but as of this writing, nearly all elevated train service has been suspended.

The MTA's industrial-sized snowblower will help keep tracks above ground free from snow.

As the snow falls and ice builds, the MTA dispatches its fleet of train cars designed to handle inclement weather. These include a snow thrower that can toss the flakes 200 feet and remove 3000 tons of snow per hour, a jet blower used to keep yards clear, de-icer cars that literally grease the rails and a so-called ballast regulator that levels the snow away from the tracks. Somehow, five million people will make their ways to the subway tomorrow and the rails must be clear.

Meanwhile, as the snow falls, I’m struck by how it can change a city in the blink of an eye. In Philadelphia tonight, you would never know the city is home to over 1.5 million people. As early as 4 p.m. today, the streets were utterly devoid of people. A few brave souls scampered to the movie theaters to catch an evening flick, but the urban tundra was sparsely populated. We ventured out to dinner at a restaurant close enough to a stop on SEPTA’s Market-Frankford Line. The trains were running with no problems, and a few people had braved the weather. But this city, getting far less snow and no gale-force winds, was sleeping through the storm.

Snow is shuttering subway routes across the city. (Hat tip to Caryn Rose)

I’ve always loved the snow while it’s coming down. New York is never as quiet and serene as it is during a snow storm. The subways, as the screenshot at right shows, aren’t holding up well, but cars are barely making tracks on the street right now. In 1996 after the blizzard, we walked along Broadway as skiers and not taxis zoomed past us. It’s too windy for those types of shenanigans tonight, and by the time the city wakes up tomorrow, the great melt will turn the pristine snow into grey slush. It’s a fleeting calm.

Nothing can remain that quiet in New York forever, and the show must go on. I’ll be in and out during the day on Monday attempting to make the most of it in Philadelphia as the cultural institutions down here slow to a crawl. Check out the MTA’s weather updates for the latest service advisories, and if you don’t have to go anywhere during the day, just admire and appreciate the snow. It lasts for only so long.