Yesterday, the New York Post reported that attorneys representing Occupy Wall Street had dropped their appeal against the city and Brookfield Properties which sought to allow camping in Zuccotti Park. The piece included triumphant quotes from attorney Randy Mastro, who was representing downtown businesses, as well as an attorney for the city. Alan Levine, the attorney representing Occupy Wall Street who argued the case in court on November 15, explained to us why he and his colleagues dropped the case: "We've gotten everything from the city and Brookfield that we wanted…they conceded that access to Zuccotti is unfettered." more ›

After telling New Yorkers the city was preparing for the worst this morning, Mayor Bloomberg held another Hurricane Irene in the early evening and reassured everyone, "Whenever the City has faced a difficult, tough situation, New Yorkers have always shown courage, compassion, presence of mind, and have been innovative in dealing with whatever is thrown at them. And I have confidence that they will do that again." While the city will not make a decision about a Zone A evacuation (see what zone you're in with the map below) until Saturday at 8 a.m., Bloomberg has announced the evacuation of the "most vulnerable New Yorkers - hospital patients; those in nursing homes and homes for aged; and also New Yorkers who because of age or infirmity are homebound" in Zone A areas. more ›

You might think that today's forecast, warm with a chance of a thundershower, is a harbinger of spring. You would be wrong. Mother Nature lives up to her cruel mistress moniker by dangling spring in front of us while all the while holding another cold snap in a gloved hand behind her back. A warm front swept northward through town last night, raising the temperature to 62 degrees this morning. It may warm a degree or two more, probably not enough to reach the record of 68, before a cold front arrives in the early afternoon. Before it begins to cool there may be an occasional shower or possibly a thunderstorm. There's a big gob of rain on the radar just east of Atlantic City, that may just skirt the city. more ›

Oh, Mother Nature. You bring us a couple inches of snow, make the city pretty for a brief spell, and then you send in the rain and turn up the heat a little, turning everything into slush.
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FESTIVITIES: Forget about that big shiny show-off in Rockefeller Center. Tonight the menorah and Christmas tree in Washington Square Park will be illuminated for all. Come bask in the glow of holiday, people. 6pm // Washington Square Park [W 4th St to Waverly Pl between MacDougal and University] // Free FILM: In a week-long tribute to Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini (pictured), tonight The Film Society of Lincoln Center will be screening Notes for an... more ›

Mother Nature is all treats and no tricks this Halloween. With southerly flow around a high pressure system centered to the east today's high temperature should be nearly ten degrees warmer than normal. The day should be mostly sunny but there may be a few clouds and ghouls this evening. more ›

Con Ed is laying the blame on Mame Mother Nature for the two power outages this past week. The utility issued a statement saying that the 48-minute blackout on Wednesday - the one that hit the Upper East Side and South Bronx - was caused by a "strong lightning strike." This is what the Con Ed statement said:

Information obtained from real-time lightning tracking data show that detection instruments measured a lightning strike of 34,000 amperes in the vicinity of a substation in Queens at 3:42 p.m. on Wednesday, precisely at the time of the power loss. The lightning strike momentarily affected communication equipment that prompted circuit breakers on multiple transmission feeders to open, causing the service interruption.

Wednesday power woes weren't just for parts of the Bronx and Manhattan: Over 4,000 (or 8,000, depending on what you read) Queens residents were without power when last night's storm made its presence known. In fact, two hours after the MTA said LIRR service was a-okay after the Bronx-Manhattan power outage, the rain screwed up Long Island Rail Road track signals, causing hours of delays after service was suspended. In this instance, we feel bad for the MTA: You can't count on Con Ed or Mother Nature. more ›

Much to our forecasting chagrin, clouds instead of sunshine have been the rule today. Luckily the clouds are breaking up a bit as tonight is one of Mother Nature's great astronomical spectacles. Yes, this evening is Williamsburghenge, the night when the sun's setting rays are parallel to the streets, well the numbered streets from North 3rd to North 15th, in Williamsburg. more ›

Patrick Cullina is the VP of Horticulture and Facilities at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, and New York's go-to guy for cherry trees (there are over 200 trees and 42 species at BBG alone!). Anita Jacobs is responsible for all of the programs that go along with the garden, speaking of which... more ›

Yesterday's storm brought flooding, closed roadways, delayed mass transit, difficult drives, soaked clothing, upended umbrellas and 7.46 inches of rain to Central Park. There were winds of 48 MPH at Kennedy Airport, as hundreds of flights in the area airports were canceled. And some environmentalists noted the irony of Saturday's Sea of People demonstration while the mayor was issuing emergency flood warnings for downtown Manhattan. more ›

Perhaps Mother Nature wanted to chill out the fiery Valentine's Day passion - or give more people to snuggle up. About one to three inches of freezing rain arrived to the New York City area, making commutes of all kinds difficult. While it's not the apocalypse hyped up meteorologists, it a disappointment - why couldn't it just be snow? Meteorologist John Cristanello explained to the Daily News that the mix of snow and freezing rain is due to "layer of above-freezing temperatures below where the snow forms," so the snow melts, becoming "sleet or freezing rain before it reaches the ground" or your face (being pelted by sleet on the walk to the subway sucks). more ›

All sorts of stuff happening today. Let's start with a review of our warm and wet November. Last month tied 1994 and 1931 as the fifth warmest November in Central Park since records began in 1869. 7.34 inches of rain in Central Park made last month eighth wettest November. more ›

Mother Nature didn't agree with the scheduled off-days in this year's National League Championship Series. Monday's rainout was the second of the series, and the Mets will stay in St. Louis to play Game 5 against the Cardinals today instead of being back in New York. The more recent postponement removes the imbalance the first created -- the starting pitchers will be working on normal rest instead of three days' worth. Early speculation that Chris Carpenter would be moved up to start today's game was ruled out by Tony La Russa. more ›

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After showering Central Park with 8.38 inches of rain this month Mother Nature decides to end June on a high note. Yesterday's thunderstorm and intense rain were followed by a gorgeous double-rainbow (the faint second bow is outside the main one, trust us!) that Gothamist saw over Harlem. The swampy weather we've had the past week have been pushed out to sea. Today is going to be nearly perfect. Sunny, dry and warm conditions will rule with a high temperature in the lower 80s. Some clouds may appear toward evening but there is no chance of rain. Tomorrow is going to be a slightly warmer repeat of today. more ›

Thousands of people (WNBC says 500,000!) lined Fifth Avenue and Greenwich Village streets to enjoy this year's Gay Pride Parade, in spite of a bit of rain. In fact, one performer on the "Carnival in Rio" float told the NY Times, "Today is our day. The rain won't stop us. Mother Nature is a drag queen." One of the stars of the parade was Kevin Aviance, the drag queen who was brutally beaten by some teens in the East Village. A parade parade spectator deemed Aviance, who was wearing red high heels, silver shorts, a white jacket, and sparkly silver top hat, "fabulous." more ›

EARTH DAY EVENT: Earth Day isn't just for hippies. This weekend celebrate our planet at Earth Day NY. Exhibitors will educate you on how to treat Mother Nature a bit more kindly and show you how to find the nature right here in New York City. more ›

International cinema circles may be buzzing today about the announced line-up of films at this year's Cannes Film Festival but for those of us who won't be walking the Croisette in May, there's still plenty to be excited about movie-wise. Here's a few suggestions for your moviegoing this weekend. more ›

We could not help but notice today that other Gothamist contributors are getting impatient with the weather. Our patience is running a bit thin as well. While temperatures may rise a smidgen closer to normal the next few days, Mother Nature is apparently in no hurry to grace us with spring-like weather just yet. We may see a few showers through the weekend, but they are likely to be insignificant if they occur. The extended forecast is not much different. more ›

DCist helps us make more sense of the world this week. Posts like this concert review are the reason for Scott Stapp. DCist also enumerates the reasons for playing ultimate frisbee, Condi’s tight buns, their love of a local convenience store, and their jealousy of a person in Seattle calling the city. more ›

It's drip drip drip in the city these days, and the mountains of snow are melting, thanks to Mother Nature's sunny disposition - and the Department of Sanitation's cool snow melters. These orange monsters melt up snow and then inject a more liquidy mixture directly into the sewers - we know this from yesterday's NY Times article. Next up: The DoS figures out how to suck all the slush from street corners! Weather-related ails other than walking in slush: Home and business owners who didn't shovel the snow off sidewalks were ticketed yesterday and car owners keep getting plowed in. And be careful of falling ice or workers pushing snow off awnings - we've gotten nailed by that a couple times by now. Better that than pigeon poop, though. more ›

Mother Nature, you did it! You made sure that there was enough snow to make meteorlogists - and local news crews - in the region thrilled beyond belief by dumping over 2 feet of snow in New York City - and more in outlying areas - which makes this a brand new record. Sure, Gothamist was laughing at newscasts touting the "Blizzard of 2006" as having the second highest snowfall, but when we took that crown from 1947 with 26.9", we did emit a bit of a holler. And then we ran outside and got nailed by some snowballs. Mayor Bloomberg called it a dangerous storm and even mentioned he too heard the early Sunday thunder, saying, "I thought, 'Plows don't make that noise.'" That other noise you heard, besides children's cheers of sledding, were children's tears over not having a snow day for Monday - school opens, kids! Anyway, who cares if two feet of snow doesn't technically count as being a blizzard? more ›

they're so great online - okay, you can read it, you Time subscribers - so we'll just speculate that Time was upset that an early pick of "Mother Nature" was leaked. And besides, what sells more magazines than one of the world's richest men and his do-gooding wife and an Irish rocker who rocks the sunglasses every chance he can? Managing Editor Jim Kelly explained on the Today show that the selection was to show what people can do in the face of adversity. more ›

Last night's/this morning's snow left another dusting that makes everything so pretty to look at but another story to trudge through. Considering how much forecasters were worrying us, the snow is actually anti-climactic here in the city, with an inch or so, which is easy for the city's 350 salt spreaders, 1,400 plows and 2,000 workers (stats from Newsday). The Mayor was freaked out enough to urge commuters to take subways and buses into the city. And we liked what the Southampton Highway Superintendent William Masterson told Newsday in terms of what the best case scenario for snow is: "The ideal storm starts at 10 p.m. Saturday, and you have all day Sunday to clean it up." Sadly, Mother Nature is unfamiliar with commuting patterns. But the weekend should warm up, with some forecasts saying Monday will be a balmy 40 degrees. This means wear boots to wade through melting snow! more ›

Wednesday: ten degrees above average. Thursday: six degrees below average. more ›

Mother Nature is giving us a big warm treat today. Our Halloween temperatures will reach the upper-60s to possibly even the mid-70s. Still warm, but with a few clouds and a breeze tomorrow. At the moment it looks to Gothamist like tomorrow's clouds and wind will be the most exciting weather of the week. Sunny skies and slightly above normal temperatures should be the rule. It's a bit too soon to make an accurate forecast but the weather for the NYC Marathon on Sunday is also looking good – a cool morning, a few clouds, and a high of around 60. more ›

Cubicle victims without windows near you who brought your own lunch or ate whatever your office offered: Take a walk outisde. It's beautiful, 70 degrees and sunny - it's almost like Mother Nature felt really bad about last week and decided that we need a pick-me-up. Thursday and Friday are also looking to be pretty lovely (we'll take partly cloudy!), so ride your bikes and have an al fresco dinner before the weekend, which is expected to be rainy. But fear not: That just means you'll have time to work on your Halloween costume then. more ›

Mother Nature must have realized she ignored us during the summer, as yesterday's rainfall broke records and caused lots of problems. Over 3.5" inches of rain fell yesterday, and with rain on deck for today and tomorrow, it's possible October's rainfall will exceed the 10.53" that fell in July, August and September combined. The NY Times spoke to an AccuWeather meteorologist, who said with the winds coming, it'll be "our first really good northeaster." Well, there goes our $3 ($5 on rainy days) umbrella. more ›