Blizzard brings NYC’s first real snow day in 7 years

Just as weeks-old mounds of snow on city streets were starting to melt, New York City was hit by a second major snow storm – and a second major test for Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

A blizzard that began Sunday carried the potential for historic snowfall of up to 24 inches, and up to 28 inches in parts of the city. Public schools will have an “old school” snow day rather than remote learning, Mamdani announced Sunday, stating the city had received a waiver from the state education commissioner to grant the now rare holiday. New York City Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said that because students are just coming back from spring break, schools were not able to hand out devices to students ahead of the storm, making remote learning difficult.

A state of emergency and travel ban is in effect from 9 p.m. Sunday to 12 p.m. Monday, restricting all traffic on city streets, highways and bridges to only certain emergency and essential movement. While Mamdani said NYPD officers won’t be focused on pulling people over, violation of the ban is a class B misdemeanor. “The focus here is not on punishment or penalty. The focus, rather, is on compliance,” he said.  

In just two months in office, it’s Mamdani’s second high-profile snow storm. “We hold ourselves to the highest standards in our administration. That means that we are never satisfied with what we are delivering to New Yorkers,” Mamdani told reporters on Saturday, when asked during a snow briefing whether he viewed this second storm as a “do-over” after January’s Winter Storm Fern. 

That late January storm blanketed the city in about a foot of snow, and Mamdani was omnipresent, earning praise for his immediate response even from some of his critics. But a prolonged period of extreme cold that followed was life-threatening for vulnerable New Yorkers, including those living on the street. At least 20 people died from exposure to the frigid temperatures. The city ramped up homeless outreach efforts, standing up warming shelters and buses, and opened new single-room homeless shelter units. Mamdani said on Sunday that in preparation for the new storm, city outreach workers placed 86 homeless New Yorkers in shelters and safe haven sites on Saturday.

The good news with the new storm, Mamdani said, is that temperatures are not expected to remain freezing for as long. That is also expected to help with melting snow. The cold snap left Winter Storm Fern’s snow banks frozen for weeks, delaying trash pickup and blocking bus stops. (Trash pickups are expected to be behind at least a day with this storm too.)

The bad news is that the new storm will delay an attempt to gain insight into the city’s planning for snow removal operations. A City Council oversight hearing into snow removal operations and accessibility that had been scheduled for Monday has been delayed until Friday given the fresh storm. “A key takeaway must be whether and how accessibility is meaningfully incorporated into planning and evaluation,” said Council Member Shahana Hanif, chair of the Committee on Disabilities.

Mamdani’s storm response this time around is already different in at least two small ways. He’s fasting now for Ramadan, and in response to concerns from numerous New Yorkers, he’s started wearing a winter hat.