A robust blizzard dumped greater than a foot and a half of snow in elements of New York Metropolis early Monday, knocking out energy to 1000’s of shoppers.
Deep piles of snow and wind gusts exceeding 50 m.p.h. hampered anybody who wanted to commute, at the same time as metropolis officers implored folks to remain residence aside from emergencies.
The MTA suspended service on the C, the Rockaway Park Shuttle and the Staten Island Railway. Extreme delays hit a number of different traces; categorical trains ran on native tracks, and buses slowed to a crawl as they navigated snowy roads and whiteout circumstances.
Service on the Lengthy Island Rail Street was shut down, whereas Metro-North operated on a decreased schedule alongside its Hudson, Harlem and New Haven traces. All New Jersey Transit rail, gentle rail, bus and paratransit service remained suspended.
Individuals board a bus within the East Village throughout a blizzard, Feb. 23, 2026. Credit score: Gwynne Hogan/THE CITY
However some New Yorkers braved the weather regardless of the blizzard warning. On the Higher West Facet early Monday, James Hammond, 86, was strolling with the assistance of a cane alongside a slim path on Columbus Avenue. He lately had a hip substitute.
“I’ve been in these kinds of things before, it’s not that bad,” he stated.
“You have to be a little more extra careful. It’s annoying, that’s all, it’s annoying.”
Greater than 18 inches of snow fell in Crown Heights, and 17 inches had been on the bottom in Williamsburg, Sheepshead Bay and Washington Heights by 8:30 Monday, in keeping with the Nationwide Climate Service.
Coney Island noticed 16 inches, and greater than 15 inches of snow blanketed Central Park and John F. Kennedy Airport.
Extra accumulation is anticipated all through the day, with as much as two ft potential earlier than the blizzard, the primary to hit NYC in a decade, strikes north.
Practically the entire metropolis streets had been plowed at the least as soon as by Monday morning, Mayor Zohran Mamdani stated, and a number of shifts of two,600 sanitation staff had been boosted by lots of of emergency snow shovelers Sunday night time and into the morning.
Sanitation staff plow streets in Brooklyn throughout a blizzard, Feb. 23, 2026. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
Staff cleared greater than 1,000 crosswalks, lots of of fireplace hydrants and unsheltered bus stops – a response to January’s storm, the place snow piles made some bus stops treacherous. The sanitation division created a database for the reason that final storm to map out the place there are unsheltered bus stops and crosswalks that would use clearing.
“In addition to plowing the city streets, we’ve also got geotags for the first time of every unsheltered bus stop and cross walk across New York City, so DSNY knows when it’s getting to those sites, so New Yorkers can get around the city,” Mamdani stated.
However he warned New Yorkers in opposition to going outdoors in the event that they didn’t need to.
New York Metropolis public faculty college students had their first conventional snow day, with none distant instruction, since 2019, partially as a result of Monday was the primary in-person day again after February break. Mamdani stated they’ll replace college students and fogeys this afternoon about whether or not they’ll return to high school on Tuesday.
The blizzard circumstances additionally introduced gusty winds nearing 60 mph in some elements of town. Energy to just about 5,000 clients in Rockaway was knocked out earlier than 5 a.m, in keeping with PSE&G, which offers energy to the peninsula. About 3,000 clients scattered round New York Metropolis had been additionally with out energy, in keeping with Con Edison — representing lower than 1% of the overall clients.
A few of that energy was restored hours later.
The heavy snow started falling Sunday, and the Lengthy Island Rail Street and NJ Transit paused service within the night – which left Edward Eodgo, a 50-year-old supply employee from Newark, stranded in Penn Station at round 11 p.m.
“I’m very worried. I don’t know how to do this night,” he stated. “I don’t know what to do.”
The town opened warming services throughout town, together with 18 warming buses and greater than 20 areas run by town’s public hospitals or at colleges. Mamdani additionally stated extra outreach staff can be dispatched throughout town to try to get folks to return indoors.
Not less than 19 folks died open air through the metropolis’s prolonged chilly climate that started in January, in keeping with town.
Michael Gonzalez, who’s been homeless for a yr and a half, was crashing within the Penn Station concourse late Sunday night time and stated “only God can tell” the place he’d spend the night time.
“I’m tired of shelters,” Gonzalez, 31, informed THE CITY. “I sleep with a knife under my chest, that’s how I did it at Rikers – no-go to the shelters.”
By midnight Sunday in Tompkins Sq. Park, greater than a dozen towering snowmen, every greater than seven ft excessive, had cropped up all through the park.
Teams of teenagers ran round throwing snowballs at one another.
Canine homeowners play in Fort Greene Park throughout a blizzard, Feb. 23, 2026. Credit score: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY
Daniel Timbie, 30, and Ben Turok, 26, had been strolling to their flats close by once they took a detour by way of Tompkins and began constructing a huge snowman.
“It’s incredible packing snow, I’ve never felt such good snow in my life,” Timbie stated.
“I grew up in Utah and this is by far the best snow I’ve ever seen for making a snowman,” Turok added.
Ricardo Hernandez, a services supervisor, was shoveling outdoors the studio within the East Village the place he works.
“It’s tiring,” he stated, because the snow continued to fall. “I don’t know if I’m even making a dent but you gotta try.”
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