February 24, 2026 — A powerful nor’easter, known as the February 2026 North American blizzard or Winter Storm Hernando, struck the Northeastern United States from February 20 to 23, delivering record snowfalls up to 37.9 inches at Rhode Island’s T.F. Green International Airport, hurricane-force winds gusting to 98 mph, and widespread impacts including power outages for over 600,000 customers, more than 8,000 flight cancellations, travel bans, school closures for millions, and at least two deaths.
Blizzard warnings affected 41 million people across New England, New York, New Jersey, and beyond. Rhode Island saw multiple records shattered, including 37.9 inches at T.F. Green, 32.8 inches in Providence over two days, and 36.2 inches in Warwick, per reports from the Associated Press and Wikipedia. New York City’s Central Park recorded 19.7 inches, while other areas like Babylon, New York (29.5 inches) and Norton, Massachusetts (31.8 inches) saw heavy accumulations of 2 to 3 feet.
Snowfall totals map shared by meteorologist Paul Blight highlighting records in Rhode Island and New York City.
Meteorologists attributed the storm’s intensity to ideal “Goldilocks” conditions for a bomb cyclone. National Weather Service meteorologist Owen Shieh explained:
“It hit the ‘Goldilocks situation’ of just the right temperature for wet, heavy snow—any warmer and its precipitation wouldn’t have fallen as snow. Any colder and there wouldn’t have been as much moisture in the air to feed that snowfall.”
The storm featured thundersnow, hurricane-force gusts up to 98 mph at Wellfleet, Massachusetts, and “heart attack snow”—heavy, wet snow posing shoveling risks.
Impacts included over 600,000 power outages peaking on February 23, mass flight disruptions at New York-area airports (nearly 1,000 at JFK, Newark, and LaGuardia combined), and the first New York Citywide travel ban in over a decade. New Jersey issued a statewide ban, and all New York City public schools closed February 23. Two deaths occurred in Maryland when a tree fell on a car.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency for 22 counties. The storm, described as a “superbomb” by former NOAA chief Ryan Maue, rapidly deepened with a 39-millibar pressure drop, marking one of the most intense Northeast blizzards since 1996.
Satellite view of the extratropical cyclone near peak intensity, shared in context of the storm’s records.
As of February 24, cleanup continues with some areas still reporting ongoing effects, according to live updates from Weather.com and Washington Post.
