Feb. 24, 2026 — New York A rapidly intensifying bomb cyclone known as Winter Storm Hernando dumped 2 to more than 3 feet of snow across the Northeast U.S., from New York City to New England, on February 22-23, unleashing hurricane-force winds up to 98 mph, thundersnow, and blizzard warnings for 30 million people.
States of emergency were declared in New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and others. New York City imposed its first non-emergency vehicle travel ban in years and its first school snow day since 2019, as announced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Public transit halted, Amtrak canceled over 30 trains, and more than 8,000 flights were scrapped with 22,000 delayed, primarily at New York-area airports.
Power outages peaked above 600,000 customers, with over 571,000 affected at one point, mainly in Massachusetts and New Jersey, complicating restoration amid downed trees and lines. Two fatalities occurred in Maryland from a tree falling on a car. Coastal flooding hit the Jersey Shore and Massachusetts.
Record snowfall shattered marks, including 37.9 inches at Rhode Island’s T.F. Green Airport, 33.5 inches in East Providence and North Kingstown, R.I., 29.5 inches in Babylon, N.Y., and 27.9 inches in Carlstadt, N.J. New York City’s Central Park measured 19.7 inches. The storm underwent bombogenesis with a 40-millibar pressure drop in about nine hours to 965 millibars.
“The storm 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,” said Owen Shieh, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center.
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill warned: “Potentially the worst storm in 30 years—stay off the roads.”
Mayor Mamdani stated, “The worst has passed,” though cleanup continued with icy roads and blowing snow into February 24. Schools remained closed in areas like Boston, and plowing efforts ramped up.
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The storm, the worst in the Northeast since the 1996 blizzard, was pulling away by February 24, with blizzard warnings expiring but travel hazards lingering. Winds continued overnight, risking whiteouts from drifting snow.
