(New York) More than 40 million people in the northeastern United States, from Maryland to Maine, are facing an exceptional snowstorm on Monday, which has already almost paralyzed the megacity of New York.
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“New York City has not experienced a storm of this magnitude in the last decade,” warned its mayor Zohran Mamdani during a press conference on Sunday.
At 5:28 a.m. local time Monday (5:28 a.m. Eastern), the city’s weather service announced that more than 15 inches of snow covered Long Island. And “it’s still snowing heavily,” the agency warned on its X account.
According to the city’s emergency services, between 9 and 11 inches of snow covered Manhattan and Brooklyn as of 2:23 a.m. ET.
PHOTO CHARLY TRIBALLEAU, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE ARCHIVES
A person rides a bicycle in Times Square in New York on February 22, 2026.
“All non-essential vehicles are prohibited from driving on the streets, highways and bridges of New York” until 12 p.m. (Eastern time), emergency services reminded on X. “Stay warm and stay safe,” they insisted.
Shortly before 6 a.m. ET, more than 280,000 homes were without power in the northeastern states, according to the website PowerOutage.us, including about 110,000 in New Jersey and more than 67,000 in Delaware.
The governors of seven states (Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island) have declared a state of emergency, with traffic bans in effect since Sunday afternoon.
Public transportation, including rail service, has been suspended in New Jersey.
Up to 60 cm of snow is expected in the coming hours, with icy wind gusts reaching 80 km/h.
The National Weather Service also warned of a risk of flooding in parts of New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts.
Early Monday morning, the skyscrapers of Wall Street were barely visible from neighboring Brooklyn because of the storm.
“The worst is yet to come”
This is the second major winter storm that the Democratic mayor has had to deal with since taking office in early January.
At the end of January, a long cold snap left at least 18 dead in the city, most of them from hypothermia. In total, the authorities had recorded at least a hundred deaths in the country.
“The worst is yet to come,” warned New York Governor Kathy Hochul during a press conference on Sunday, before advising residents to stay “comfortably” at home.
“What about the parents who have to go to work? It’s unfair,” protested Brandon Smith, a Brooklyn resident interviewed by AFP before the traffic stop. He was concerned about the difficulties that those who cannot telework will encounter.
Tourists, on the other hand, were delighted by the spectacle offered by the first snowfall, like Macarena Gonzalez, from Chile: “I knew it was going to snow a little, but I didn’t think it would be that much. But I’m happy, it’s a great experience. »
The United Nations headquarters in Manhattan will also be closed on Monday and “all planned meetings postponed,” according to an internal statement.
In Boston, where up to 60 cm of snow is expected, schools will be closed on Monday, in the face of a storm which “promises to be of historic magnitude”, warned Mayor Michelle Wu.
More than 8,700 flights have been canceled since Sunday, according to the specialized site FlightAware, with New York airports being the most affected by these cancellations followed by Boston, Newark and Philadelphia airports.
The specialized site is already forecasting more than 1,300 flight cancellations on Tuesday due to weather conditions.
