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Not A White Christmas, But That's NYC


By

Jen Chung

Published Dec 25, 2009

Modified Dec 25, 2009


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Photograph of a snow lizard emerging from the street by katieknitsny on Flickr

 


By

Jen Chung

Published Dec 25, 2009

Modified Dec 25, 2009


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The NY Times wonders if the snow left from last weekend's snow storm makes this a white Christmas. Of course there is debate.

One Midtown shopper said, "It’s an off-white Christmas. I’d qualify this snow. Christmas is all about spirit, not about technicalities," while another person argued that it needs to actually snow for it to be a white Christmas. Fun fact: "The National Climatic Data Center defines a white Christmas as a snow depth of at least one inch on Christmas. The last time that amount of remnant snow graced the city streets on Christmas morning was in 1998, and the last time that a fresh snowfall on Christmas Day met the minimum was in 2002. The snow depth reported at Central Park on Thursday morning was four inches."

Still, Sanitation Commissioner John Doherty said, “It’s not white in many places right now. Last Sunday morning it was beautiful and pristine snow that everyone wanted to go outside and play in, including myself. But as the week goes on, it gets a little tarnished." Yeah, especially if "tarnished" means not just gray and icky from vehicles but also golden and brown from dogs and probably humans.

Tagged

gray christmas

slush

snow

weather

white christmas

winter storm

yellow snow


Jen Chung

Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations


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