It was a tale of two storms — a jolly winter wonderland in some places and an icy, snow-blown hell in others.
Snowstorm Nemo floundered in New York City, where the worst effects of the 11-inch coating of flakes blanketed side streets and slushy sidewalks.
“Looks like we dodged a bullet,” said a clearly relieved Mayor Bloomberg.
But as bundled-up shoppers hit city streets yesterday for some retail therapy, and happy children finally got to put their Christmas sleds to the test in Central Park, Long Islanders struggled to recover from Nemo’s rage.
The storm slammed Suffolk County with up to 33.5 inches of snow, cut power to 40,000 homes and businesses in Suffolk and Nassau, and stranded hundreds of motorists overnight on drift-clogged roadways.
And it was even worse in the New England states, with more than 3 feet of snow falling in parts of Connecticut and powerful wind gusts of up to 82 mph helping cut power to 650,000 people.
* Medford, LI, had 33.5 inches of snow, the highest total in the state, the National Weather Service said. Among the other Suffolk County spots reporting more than 2 feet of snow were Setauket, Smithtown, Port Jefferson, Mount Sinai, Islip, Huntington and Commack.
* Some 9,500 LI Power Authority customers were without power at 11:30 a.m. Eleven hours later, 5,000 remained without electricity.
* About 3,000 Con Ed customers lost power during the storm, but most were restored by yesterday morning. Manhole fires caused by corrosive salty slush knocked out power to about 500 Con Ed customers in Brooklyn yesterday afternoon.
* State officials plan today to shut 30 miles of the Long Island Expressway, from exit 57 in Islandia to exit 73 in Riverhead, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. for snow removal.
* Metro-North and Long Island Rail Road service was crippled. Every branch of the LIRR was hit with service changes or suspensions, and Metro-North service between Stamford and New Haven was expected to remain suspended today.
* Area airports struggled back to life, but there were still many cancellations. Some 620 departing flights and 302 arriving flights were canceled yesterday at Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark airports, according to the Web site FlightAware.com.
* By afternoon, the city’s main streets and highways were cleared, and officials promised to have all streets cleared of snow by last night.
* Subway service, slammed by Hurricane Sandy more than three months ago, was near-normal yesterday afternoon.
* At least five people were reported dead in the storm in the United States and three in Canada. An 11-year-old boy died in Boston of carbon-monoxide poisoning in a running car while his father tried to shovel it free.
* Among the dead was a 58-year-old man who died while removing snow from his car at his mother’s senior apartment complex in Selden.
* Hamden, Conn., was walloped by 40 inches of snow, the largest total in the northeast. Nemo’s highest wind, 82 mph, was reported on Cuttyhunk Island, Mass.
* People who live in areas hammered by Sandy felt lucky that Nemo barely scratched them.
“It’s only snow,” said Dmitriy Pilguy of Staten Island’s Midland Beach neighborhood. “I’m from Russia. I don’t care.”
* Fashion Week went ahead in Manhattan — but with some storm-related faux pas. Designer Michael Kors arrived at the “Project Runway” show in Uggs. “I came in looking like Pam Anderson,” he joked.
Some of the most dramatic stories came from 200 Long Islanders who got snowed in on roadways and spent the night in their cars. No one was reported seriously hurt — but some were rescued by snowmobile.
Nurse Cindy Rickey, 45, was just five minutes away from home when her commute turned into a frigid overnight ordeal.
She left her job at North Shore-Manhasset Hospital at 7:05 p.m. and nearly made it home to Port Jefferson Station by 9:15 p.m. when she was snowed in for the night along Route 347 near the Smith Haven Mall.
“I called my husband once all of the cars were piled up behind me and told him I was staying here for the night,” Rickey said.
Even some people who were working to clean up Nemo’s mess found themselves trapped.
“I was clearing parking lots and my plow broke,” said Scott Stark, 49, of Bright Waters, LI.
He was headed to a repair shop at 11:30 p.m. when he also ended up stuck near the mall.
Stark stopped, turned on the heat, and tuned in to a classic-rock radio station.
About noon, he made his way to the Nesconset firehouse, a haven for dozens who had also spent the night in their cars.
“We were in our car for 16 hours, and for 12 hours we didn’t see a soul,” said Nick Damaskinakis, 35. He said the ordeal “was not a lot of fun.”
Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts, Lia Eustachewich and Post Wires