Feb. 22-23, 2026 — Northeast U.S. — A powerful nor’easter classified as a bomb cyclone struck the region starting late February 22, delivering blizzard conditions with heavy snowfall exceeding 3 feet in Rhode Island, hurricane-force winds up to 83 mph, thundersnow and widespread disruptions including a rare citywide travel ban in New York City from 9 p.m. Sunday to noon Monday.
The storm broke multiple snowfall records, including 36.2 inches in Warwick, Rhode Island, and 33.5 inches in Providence, surpassing the previous all-time mark from 1978. Parts of Long Island saw over 20 inches, with 28 inches in Islip, while Central Park in New York City recorded nearly 20 inches, ranking it among the city’s top 10 snowstorms since 1869. At least 19 stations across five states reported 2 feet or more.
“For Northeast blizzard, everything was just right to roll up a monster snowfall. A record more than 3 feet in RI. Hurricane-force winds. Thundersnow. So intense & beautiful meteorologists are rhapsodizing about it.”
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared a state of emergency, closing schools—the first snow day since 2019—and banning non-emergency travel on streets, highways and bridges. New York Governor Kathy Hochul also declared a statewide emergency, activating 100 National Guard members. Similar declarations came from Massachusetts, Delaware, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.
Travel ground to a halt with over 10,000 flights canceled nationwide, including nearly all at New York-area airports like JFK and LaGuardia, as well as Boston Logan and Philadelphia. Highways such as the I-95 corridor were impassable due to snow and downed trees, and subways and buses faced limitations.
More than 400,000 customers lost power across the Northeast, with about 300,000 in Massachusetts and 90,000 in New Jersey alone. Officials warned of risks from heavy, wet snow and high winds snapping tree limbs.
“This will be something the likes of which we’ve not seen in years. People will be in the dark. Long Island and New York City and lower Hudson are literally in the direct eye of the storm.”
— New York Governor Kathy Hochul
National Weather Service meteorologist Cody Snell noted the storm’s rarity: “While we do get plenty of these nor’easters that produce heavy snow and strong impacts, it’s been several years since we saw one of this magnitude across this large of a region in this very populated part of the country.”
The event affected tens of millions under blizzard warnings from North Carolina to Maine, with response efforts challenged by ongoing snowfall as of February 24.
