A Wet And Miserable Start To Memorial Day Weekend

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Memorial Day weekend it may be, but it might as well be mid-March for New Yorkers who stepped outside Saturday.

The Jersey Shore has technically reopened for the start of the season for the first time since Superstorm Sandy, but not too many people were heading to the shore on Saturday, 1010 WINS' John Montone reported.

Gale force winds were blowing in from the west and chopping up the bay, Montone reported.

CHECK: Forecast & Alerts | Live Radar | Traffic & Transit

In spite of the weather businesses were up and running in Seaside Heights, which normally receives Calcutta-sized crowds, but were instead experiencing a relatively subdued Memorial Day weekend.

"I would have liked a nice patch of weather over the weekend, but I think just one look around shows people are going to come here no matter what," store manager Charles Draper told CBS 2's Steve Langford.

On Coney Island, conditions were equally unpleasant and those who depend on foot traffic for their living were not pleased.

"I am cursing Mother Nature every day that it rains. It's really affecting our business," said Robert Fishman, manager of Nathan's. "We thought we would blow the doors off this week since we opened."

But the rides and carnival games have reopened on Coney Island, as has the New York Aquarium, 1010 WINS' Steve Sandberg reported.

The weather didn't stop everybody from enjoying the boardwalk on Coney Island.

"It's pretty cold out here today," Yvette Moustaffa told CBS 2's Dave Carlin, after she was awarded a bag of cotton candy as a consolation prize.

And remember, it can always be worse. Upstate, some areas were seeing light snow on Saturday morning, Murdock reported.

Conditions were expected to dry out on Sunday, and sunshine and temperatures in the 70s are coming Monday.

CBS 2 meteorologist Vanessa Murdock said Saturday was to be best suited for indoor activities, with rain, bone-chilling cold and windy conditions. Early Saturday, the temperature had reached a mere 45 degrees in the city, and just 39 in Monticello.

Conditions did not improve Saturday, with showers moving on through and winds picking up – gusting to 40 mph. The high for the day was only 55, compared with a typical high of 73 for May 25 historically.

The miserable weather set in on Friday, one day after powerful storms drenched the Tri-State Area with torrential rain.

The heavy rain this week made a mess of area roads and prompted the National Weather Service to issue various flash flood warnings.

In Westchester County, drivers shuffled onto local streets after a downpour flooded parts of the Saw Mill River Parkway. By Friday evening flooding had eased somewhat, along with the rain.

Backed up storm sewers had to be pumped out as they stifled surrounding communities. One such example happened in Tarrytown on Thursday as rainwater formed a raging river on Main Street.

It was the same story on the other side of the Hudson River. In Nyack, some residents said their basements flooded with up to 8 feet of water.

Parts of the Saw Mill remained closed due to flooding.

As 1010 WINS' Gary Baumgarten reported, Prasad from Malaysia was disappointed by the gloomy conditions Saturday.

"It's kind of windy and rainy," he said.

But the weather did not get in the way of his enjoying the U.S.S. Intrepid, and he hoped everything would clear up before the weekend was through.

And if there was one advantage to the cool weather, Baumgarten reported, it was that venues such as the Intrepid were far less crowded than usual.

Check Out These Other Stories From CBSNewYork.com:

In:
• John Montone
• Coney Island