ALBANY COUNTY — The area has emerged from its first major snowfall of the year largely unscathed.

Governor Kathy Hochul on Saturday declared a state of emergency for all of New York, a move that allowed state agencies to provide mutual aid to municipalities requesting assistance with snow removal and other emergency services.

Locally, Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy declared a state of emergency on Sunday, which remained in effect until 9 p.m. Monday. 

While some parts of Westerlo and Rensselaerville saw 19 inches hit the ground, it was the bone-chilling cold that defined the multi-day storm as New York State Mesonet on Saturday witnessed several of its sites hitting new record lows. 

The cold weather is expected to continue in Albany County into Sunday; according to the National Weather Service, temperatures will range from -2 degrees Fahrenheit to 19 degrees, with the highest temperatures at noon.

The weather service adds that, while below-normal temperatures will continue for the rest of this week, they “quite possibly may continue into the next two weeks.”

Mesonet is a state-funded, university-operated environmental-monitoring program, whose 127 automated monitoring stations provide real-time weather data to forecasters and emergency managers; it’s headquartered at the University at Albany. 

On Saturday, Mesonet’s Lake Placid site recorded a low of negative 22.1 degrees Fahrenheit, while the Lake Ontario-adjacent hamlet of Belleville in Jefferson County saw a reading of negative 29 degrees. 

“Wind chills were even more extreme, with new site records set in Copenhagen (-49 F), Belleville (-46.6 F), and Lake Placid (-38 F). Every Mesonet station across the state experienced sub-zero wind chills,” the research organization said in a statement. “On Sunday, several Mesonet sites experienced snowfall rates exceeding three inches per hour, including Brockport, Medina, North Branch, Brookfield and Stephentown. North Branch and Brookfield each set new site records for one-hour snowfall totals.”

One outcome of the brutally low temperatures was fewer power-outages problems than is typically expected of a storm that drops over a foot of powder on the region. The frigid temperatures make for lighter snow that doesn’t stick to utility lines, causing them to break. 

Approximately 5,600 utility workers were placed on standby to respond to power outages.

By 1 p.m. on Tuesday, National Grid’s tracker map showed a 1,000-plus customer outage in Berne had been resolved; the only other large-scale power problem occurred in Bethlehem and was taken care of before Monday was out. 

On Monday, starting about 5 a.m., it took firefighters in Berne approximately  an hour to tamp down a Helderberg Trail house fire, which resulted in a total loss but its resident escaped unharmed.

Later on Monday, snowbound residents of Cornell Avenue in Guilderland were surprised when a tractor with a bucket loader cleared their driveways — unbidden and for free.

“In the freezing cold, he took his tractor and plowed everybody out,” said Phyllis Rhoades, who lives at 2 Cornell Ave. “The man is wonderful. He went up and down the street. I couldn’t believe it … He’s got a tractor with a little bucket in the front and he just scooped it all up. He was out from the morning till 2 or 3 in the afternoon.”

She went on, “He opened a small business at the corner and just helped everybody out …. I don’t even know his name.”

Robért Rahal opened his jewelry store, Robért Fine Jewelry, at the corner of Western and Cornell Avenues in August, he said. He uses the tractor to clear his parking lot.

When he saw, on Monday morning, that the driveways on Cornell hadn’t been cleared, he thought, “Oh, my god, these people need to go get their food,” he told The Enterprise.

“Half of these people on Cornell street, they’re older folks. And I know a couple of them live alone, so I felt horrible. I wanted to do it,” he said.

“The most valuable thing I got yesterday,” he told The Enterprise on Tuesday, “was this woman literally blowing me kisses from the window …. Another lady, she said to me, ‘Are you like my guardian angel?

“I said to her, ‘Why are you saying that?’ She goes, ‘Because I’ve been praying all day. I can’t get out of my driveway and here you came out of nowhere’ ….

“She tried to offer me money. I said, ‘Ma’am, please put your money away; get out of my way so I can finish my job. Go inside the house. If you need anything else, let me know.’”

— Melissa Hale-Spencer contributed the Cornell Avenue story and the National Weather Service information to this story.