Historic storm brings NYC to a standstill as bomb cyclone dumps more than 13 inches of snow — with more expected

Thomas Spritzler reporting for the Report. I hate the Big Apple.

Historic storm brings NYC to a standstill as bomb cyclone dumps more than 13 inches of snow — with more expected

By Patrick Reilly

Published Feb. 23, 2026, 6:36 a.m. ET

New York City was brought to a standstill Monday morning after a monster bomb cyclone dumped double-digit snow totals throughout the area — with much more expected throughout the day.

The snow was still falling heavily before dawn as more than 13 inches were reported on Staten Island, a foot in Mott Haven in the Bronx, and more than 11 inches in Flatbush and Washington Heights, according to the latest update from the National Weather Service.

Freehold in Monmouth County, New Jersey — located in the heart of the winter blast — recorded a whopping 19 inches, Fox Weather reported.

The snow fell at an incredible rate of 2 to 3 inches per hour early Monday from New York through Massachusetts.

The NWS called travel conditions “nearly impossible.”

“The combination of heavy snowfall and strong winds will continue to produce blizzard conditions along the Northeastern Seaboard,” the weather service said Monday. “Sharply reduced visibility will make travel extremely treacherous across these areas.”

The historic storm, named Winter Storm Hernando, is expected to continue dumping snow for most of the rest of the day, with as much as 20 inches expected in parts of the tri-state area by the time it finally leaves late Monday.

The blizzard, which brought wind gusts of up to 60 miles per hour, has knocked out power to more than 250,000 people on the east coast, including over 100,000 in New Jersey.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has declared a state of emergency for all five boroughs, Long Island and several other counties. The entire state of New Jersey is also under a state of emergency.

The streets of the Big Apple were eerily empty with the exception of snowplows as a travel ban — announced to New Yorkers with a blaring cell phone alert Sunday night — was put in effect beginning Sunday at 9 p.m. and continuing through noon on Monday.

All NJ Transit services have been suspended and Long Island Railroad and NYC subways are also experiencing cancelations, delays and service changes, according to agency officials.

More than 5,500 flights were canceled across the country on Monday due to the weather, with another 9,000 delayed, according to flight tracking website FlightAware.

Airports in New York City and Boston saw the most cancellations and delays.

The snow also forced New York City schools to close in what Mayor Zohran Mamdani called the “first old-school snow day since 2019” after giving students a disappointing virtual learning day during the last storm.

A person riding a bike along Manhattan's Times Square during a snowfall.

The city, still recovering from its last major snow debacle, recruited people to shovel snow, with some beginning work Sunday night to get an early start on the first wave of snowfall, Mamdani said.

A blizzard warning remains in effect until 6 p.m.