The eighth-largest winter storm in New York City history left parts of the city under 19 inches of snow Thursday, forcing public schools to close for the day as city workers pushed to clear the streets.

The city has since lifted its winter weather emergency.

"Clearing the streets remains our number one job, and to do that, motorists should please, please refrain from driving," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said during a City Hall press conference Thursday morning.

The downfall brought a rare snow day for New York City's public school students, with many of them heading outdoors to play. It was only the seventh snow day for city schools since 1978.

After the heavy winter storm made many roads impassable, Schools Chancellor Cathie Black announced the closures shortly before 5 a.m.

Tens of thousands of city students were supposed to have taken their State Regents exams Thursday, but most of them will now have to take the exams in June.

A list of other school closings can be found below.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that non-emergency city government offices were also closed, but stressed that city employees should return to work as transportation improves.

"New York City almost never takes a snow day, but today is one of those rare days," the mayor said in a statement.

This has been the snowiest January on record and the sixth-snowiest winter in city history.

By the time the snow stopped at 4 a.m., Central Park received 19 inches of snow. Other totals include 18 inches in Pelham Parkway House in the Bronx; 13 inches in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn; 17.3 inches in LaGuardia Airport and 10.3 inches in John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens; and 16 inches in Eltingville, Staten Island.

The Office of Emergency Management made sure all city agencies worked together to avoid a repeat of the mess made by last month's blizzard.

Beginning Wednesday and through the morning commute Thursday, fire, police and Sanitation Department officials, as well representatives from the Bridge and Tunnel Authority monitored the storm from OEM headquarters in Downtown Brooklyn.

Alternate-side parking regulations are suspended Friday to help speed up snow removal.

Parking meters and garbage collection are suspended throughout the city.

The Sanitation Department has more 2,000 pieces of equipment working to clear the streets. The mayor says the goal is to plow as much as possible, then return later to deal with stalled vehicles.

Cars stuck in streets will be towed at the owners' expense, to help facilitate the street plowing.

"The mayor came out strong yesterday in telling the public to avoid driving, to stay in place. We suspended all street parking as well as meters so that people would not have to move their cars and I think the message was very well received by the public," said OEM Commissioner Joseph Bruno.

The New York City Fire Department is also asking New Yorkers to shovel out the snow from around fire hydrants, to allow firefighters to have access to them.

As fast-falling snow clogged city streets, the MTA suspended bus service throughout the five boroughs at 12:25 a.m. Thursday. Although there were sporadic reports of buses being stuck, it was a vast improvement over last month's storm.

"A lot of it has to do with the timing and severity of the storm at any one point in time. This storm did have an awful lot of snow for a few hours, per hour," said Bloomberg. "On the other hand, what happened the last time was the snow came when people were coming home from a holiday weekend. We had, if you remember, 600 buses stuck. This time, Jay pulled the buses off the streets at 12:30, so there were almost no stuck buses."

As of Thursday evening the city was still in the process of restoring normal bus service throughout the five boroughs. NY1 has information on the transit situation, with updated information available on the MTA's website.

All subway lines are running, but some lines are running local and some have delays. Bloomberg himself rode the subway to work, but was forced to take the local train.

Early Thursday morning, some were re-routed to Coney Island.

While MTA workers told them to find alternate transportation, many of the train's riders felt that they had no other choice but to stay on the train. As a result, they were stuck for hours.

As of 5 a.m. the Long Island Rail Road was back running after it suspended passenger train service in both directions at about 2 a.m. Service later resumed with residual delays.

Metro-North's New Haven Line service has resumed on a Sunday schedule. This schedule provides hourly service and New Haven Line customers should not travel unless they have to. The Hudson and Harlem Lines were operating on a Saturday schedule.

Service and the Staten Island Railway has been restored and the Staten Island Ferry is running on a full schedule.

Commuters are being asked to check http://mta.info for the latest service updates.

New Jersey Transit rails have 30 minute delays, and most NJ Transit bus service has been restored.

Amtrak has resumed service between Washington, D.C. and Boston, after service interruptions earlier today.

All area airports are back up and running, but it will take some time to get back to normal.

LaGuardia, John F. Kennedy and Newark Airports are dealing with the ramifications of hundreds of cancellations.

LaGuardia reopened Thursday morning, while JFK and Newark followed suit around noon.

If you are scheduled to fly out, check beforehand with your carrier.

Shovels in hand, New Yorkers have greeted the storm with resignation. Most who spoke with NY1 said they were sick of digging out their cars and sidewalks.

"It's a lot of snow. I don't like it, that much snow. Oh my god, whole day we stayed home, last night and we didn't work," said one business owner.

"It's pretty bad this year, but I've seen worse," said a New Yorker. "I've seen where they plowed the snow, and after the plow finished it was almost as high as the lamppost. So this like pales in comparison to that. Still, it's still pretty bad."

"I feel bad for the city's budget. I don't know where they're going to get the money from for this, to clean all this up."

Many city offices and services were closed Thursday.

FedEx officials say the agency was delivering as much mail as it could, but service remains slower than usual.

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