Update: (Thursday, noon):
Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone has declared a state of emergency effective at 11 a.m. Thursday. Additional details are forthcoming.
Update (Thursday, 10:30 a.m.):
No vehicle traffic is allowed on roadways within Brookhaven Town until further notice.
A message from Brookhaven Town:
Supervisor Ed Romaine has issued a State of Emergency in the Town of Brookhaven effective 10 a.m. today, Feb. 9, that calls for all vehicles, except for essential emergency vehicles, to be off the roads effective immediately.
Vehicles that are parked in the street must be moved to driveways or be subject to towing at the owner’s expense. Any abandoned vehicles obstructing access for snowplows and emergency vehicles may also be removed by the Town.
In addition, the Town Board meeting scheduled for Thursday at 5 p.m. will be adjourned to Friday, Feb, 10 at 2 p.m.
Update (Thursday, 7 a.m.):
The NWS’s blizzard warning is now forecasting 12 to 16 inches over Long Island.
Update (Wednesday, 6: p.m.):
The National Weather Service is issuing a blizzard warning and Patchogue Village will be in a state of emergency starting at 6 a.m. Thursday as a powerful storm gets set to wallop Long Island.
The Weather Service is predicting 10 to 14 inches of snow over Long Island, with some local accumulations reaching even higher.
The blizzard warning will be in effect from 3 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday, and indicates severe winter weather conditions are expected or occurring.
In Patchogue, starting at 6 a.m., all cars must be off village streets, and for those who don’t have parking available on their property, they can park in any municipal lot overnight without a village sticker.
Patchogue Village will not be picking up garbage on Thursday.
All Patchogue-Medford, South Country and Bayport-Blue Point schools are closed Thursday, Feb. 9, and all district programs and services are cancelled.
Brookhaven Town will begin garbage pick-up one hour earlier at 5 a.m. instead of the usual 6 a.m.
The town urges residents to place garbage cans at the curb earlier than usual, and remove them from the street soon after pick-up to help keep the roads clear for snow plow access. The town also asks residents to move vehicles that are parked on the street into driveways.