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The Blizzard of '26 which buried the South Fork under as much as 30 inches of snow in some places appears to be firmly in the top three biggest snowstorms to hit the East End since official record keeping began in 1963, the National Weather Service said.
Snow plows and excavators were still hard at work on Wednesday morning, some 72 hours after the first flurries started falling on Sunday to get side streets, parking lots and sidewalks cleared of snow, and many residents still have only the smallest peeks out of their driveways and drifted-in yards.
Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the snowfall overnight Sunday and through most of the morning on Monday — and whipped by hurricane-force wind gusts — rivaled the January 2015 nor’easter that left 33 inches in parts of the South Fork.
The highest snowfall amount reported to the NWS on Monday was 28.1 inches in Montauk, shortly after noon, when light snow was still falling.
“There were areas of southern Connecticut that recorded 30 inches of snow, so it’s safe to say you could have had that much out there in the Hamptons also,” NWS meteorologist Dave Stark said from the agency’s regional headquarters at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, Long Island.
For residents digging out from the white onslaught this week, the faint differences in the record books were inconsequential.
“It’s the most I have ever seen in my lifetime,” said Mike O’Connell, while getting groceries on Tuesday in Bridgehampton. “My back is never going to be the same.”
And there’s still some east end digging to be done including right here in Southampton Village where the superintendent of public works, Steve Phillips, said that crews have worked to get the downtown business district cleared of the snow piles that block parking spots and are laboring to get packed icy spots cleared to the blacktop in the face of a shortage of road salt. Walking across some Southampton Village sidewalks is perilous, too.
Suffolk County Police have arrested a Riverhead man in connection with the death of his mother, whose body was found earlier this month in a wooded area in Manorville, police said.
Curtis Trent Jr., 36, of 61 Forge Road, Riverhead, was arrested yesterday and charged with second-degree murder in the killing of Kathleen Harrison Trent, according to a Suffolk County Police Department press release.
Kathleen Harrison Trent, 63, of the same address, had been reported missing to Riverhead Town Police on Jan. 29, police said. Her body was discovered Feb. 11 at about 3:21 p.m. in a wooded area on Connecticut Avenue, south of River Road, in Manorville, police said. Seventh Precinct patrol units searching the area found the body, according to the release.
Police previously said detectives believed the death was criminal in nature. The cause of death remains under investigation, police said.
Trent Jr. was arraigned Wednesday at Riverhead Town Justice Court, police said.
Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives ask anyone with information about the case to call 631-852-6392 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS. Tips can also be submitted through the P3 Tips app or at www.P3Tips.com.
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Seatuck’s Long Island Natural History Conference, which each year brings together naturalists to discuss all the work they’re doing to understand the natural world here, will be held tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 27 at Stony Brook University’s Charles B. Wang Center from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that among the discussions this year relevant to the East End are right whale stewardship, wetland protection and identification programs, tracking tiger salamanders and horseshoe crabs, building screech owl boxes and wildlife passages.
The Long Island Natural History Conference is the largest regional forum for the exchange of information about Long Island’s natural history. The annual event brings together Long Island’s leading naturalists to exchange current information, identifies research and management needs, and encourages collaborations and a greater region-wide interest in Long Island’s natural history.
The Conference was established by the Long Island Nature Organization (LINO) in 2012 to support education and research about the natural history of Long Island. The conference resulted from the vision and dedication of Mike Bottini, Tim Green, John Turner and the late James Monaco.
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Community members gathered Tuesday night at St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Riverhead for a solemn service marking the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The war that was triggered by the invasion grinds on.
Denise Civiletti reports on Riverheadlocal.com that for Ukrainian-American parishioners of the Riverhead church, the war brutalizing their ancestral land is very personal. Some who worship there are refugees of the war. Many have family members living there who are directly affected by the war. Among them is Pastor Bohdan Hedz. He is an immigrant, with family in Ukraine, including his mother.
The small church sanctuary was crowded for a candlelight memorial service Tuesday night, a service Hedz has held annually since 2023. The pastor chanted and prayed aloud in both Ukrainian and English. The air was thick with incense and burning candles.
“I welcome you to this memorial service commemorating the fourth year of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation.”
“But as I always remind myself and everybody around me, truly, this year marks the 12 anniversary of war that Russia is waging against Ukraine,” Hedz said, referring to the outbreak of armed conflict in eastern Ukraine that erupted in early 2014 following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
He spoke directly to community members from outside his church who attended the service, singling out Riverhead Town Supervisor Jerry Halpin, whom Hedz called a “vocal supporter.” Hedz thanked the town government for its support and the larger community for its support.
“I want to express my gratitude on behalf of our Ukrainian community for your open hearts, for your sincere help that you still provide,” Hedz said. “You have not grown idle.”
St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church in Riverhead continues to accept donations of humanitarian aid to ship to Ukraine and to fundraise to aid war victims and the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. For information about the church’s ongoing efforts and information on how to help, visit the church’s Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/sjbucc
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The buses started arriving at the State Capitol by late morning yesterday, from scattered locations mostly across New York City, carrying people of different ages and circumstances, all driven by the same impulse: to tell New York Governor Kathy Hochul to tax the rich.
In all, about 1,500 people from across the state filled the old Washington Avenue Armory in Albany, N.Y., where a succession of union organizers, democratic socialist elected officials and Zohran Mamdani fans fired up the crowd before a march to the State Capitol.
Benjamin Oreskes reports in THE NY TIMES that speakers invoked Mr. Mamdani’s N.Y.C. mayoral victory as evidence that a more progressive vision for the state was possible. Recent polling from Siena University found that nearly two in three voters across the state favored making child care universal and also backed increasing taxes on those earning more than $1 million a year.
The speakers took turns bashing Governor Hochul’s reluctance to raise taxes. She has said often that she worries that such a move would hurt the state’s business climate. That was not a concern of the attendees yesterday.
“New York is the wealth capital of the country,” said Rafaella Abeo, a local organizer with the United Auto Workers. “We can also be the state that leads the nation in economic justice. The money is here. The question is, Governor Hochul: Do you have the courage to collect it?”
Ms. Hochul, who was in New York City on Wednesday, has committed billions of dollars to expanding child care and supporting N.Y.C. services. Her office declined to comment on the rally.
Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a nonpartisan think tank, said there was a clear consensus that the city and state governments were not delivering enough for New Yorkers. But he questioned the wisdom of raising taxes when, he said, the state is already the highest-taxed place in the country per capita.
“We are chipping away at the competitive foundation of the state when we raise them,” he said.
“We have a ton of money,” he added. “We need to be using that money well to deliver what New Yorkers need.”
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Southampton Town and the Suffolk County Office of Multicultural Affairs honored Southampton Town Fire Department Chief Polis Walker with its 2026 Black History Month Celebration proclamation for outstanding leadership and Walker’s decades of public service and commitment to the safety and well-being of the Southampton community. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that Walker has been a Southampton Fire Department firefighter for 19 years and was recently elected by the department’s volunteers to serve a third 2-year term as the department chief.
In January, Walker and a Southampton Town Police officer dashed into a burning building to rescue a disabled man. Walker, 60, lifted the man over his shoulder carried him out of the house and down a flight of stairs to safety.
Southampton Town Board member Tom Neely proclaimed, “Chief Walker’s volunteerism exemplifies the dedication and integrity that define true public service in our community, and we thank him.”
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The freezing winter has taken a harsh toll on Long Island's harbors, canals and marinas, leaving towns and villages with big bills to repair damaged docks and pilings.
This year's cold streak sent poles that support docks shooting out of canals and seabeds across the North and South shores, officials said. Saltwater exposed to weeks of extreme cold froze around the poles, gripped them and pulled them out of the seabed during high tide, sometimes by a dozen feet or more. The phenomenon, called ice jacking, has caused damage that could take weeks to assess and even more time to repair.
Sam Kmack and Alek Lewis report in NEWSDAY that dock wreckage has become so pervasive in the Town of Southampton that officials called an ice emergency. The declaration allows residents to more quickly secure permits to repair or rebuild damaged structures.
"We haven't seen an ice freeze like this in over a decade, maybe longer," said Jimmy Mack, president of the Southampton Town Trustees, which regulates dock and bulkhead construction on all of the town's waterways and shorelines. "It's a big problem."
Ice jacking happens when water freezes around pilings that are drilled into the seabed and support docks or boat parking, said Aram Terchunian, a coastal geologist based in Westhampton Beach.
The ice grips, then dislodges the pilings when the tide rises.
"Then the process is repeated, because you get two tides a day," Terchunian said. "Even if it only moves it a couple of inches every time, over a span of several weeks, it'll jack it up many feet in the air."
Seawater freezes at 28.4 degrees, less than the 32-degree threshold for freshwater, according to the National Ocean Service, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
During particularly cold streaks, the municipalities often rely on "bubblers" or "ice eaters" that warm the waters and prevent ice from setting. These techniques keep water moving, preventing it from freezing around the pilings, Terchunian said.
The cost of dock repairs can range from $1,000 to more than $10,000, according to Terchunian, who owns First Coastal Corp., a firm that designs and consults on dock construction. "It depends on the extent of the damage and how big the dock was," he said.
Mack, the Southampton Town Trustees' president, said most docks are not labeled, so those that break off can drift and the town impounds the debris. He and the other trustees are expediting permits to repair and replace marine structures damaged by the icy conditions. That process will be expedited until April 15.
Mack and Terchunian said that in recent years, the warmer winters have caused some homeowners to forgo taking preventive measures.
Southampton Town Supervisor Maria Moore said docks damaged by freezing weather was one reason the town wants to ban private docks on the Great Peconic Bay and Little Peconic Bay.
"It's just showing that … our concern was accurate in light of the circumstances of the last week," she said.
