Severe storm batters northeast, snarling travel

Snowplows in New York City on Monday.

A major nor’easter crippled much of the East Coast on Monday, shuttering airports, closing roads and dumping more than 2 feet of snow that set records in some areas.

The storm slammed cities from Maine to Virginia, bringing travel in large hubs such as Boston and New York to a standstill.

Tens of thousands of flights across the region were canceled over the weekend, with an additional 5,600 groundings announced Monday, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. At least 30,000 delays have been reported, further disrupting travel routes in the region.

John F. Kennedy, LaGuardia, Boston Logan, Newark Liberty and Philadelphia International airports were largely shut down.

Across the northeast, more than 562,000 customers were without power Monday evening. Mounds of snow made it near impossible for some residents to open their front doors and created dangerous conditions on roadways. In Mansfield, Mass., a suburb of Boston, the police department said Monday that it had responded to a dozen calls for cars stuck in the snow. “Please avoid travel if you can,” the department posted on social media.

About 29 inches of snow had fallen on Islip, N.Y. on Long Island, by the afternoon, setting an unofficial record for the largest snowstorm in the town since 1963, according to the National Weather Service. Central Park in Manhattan received about 19.7 inches, and the storm dumped about 27 inches on Newark Liberty International Airport.

Power-line damage in Edgartown, Mass.

On Long Island, Nesconset, N.Y., resident Donna Faber-Titone said the whipping winds created 5-foot drifts in her backyard.

“We’ve never had this combination of wind, cold and snow,” said the mortgage banker, who made a run to an Italian bakery in Astoria, Queens, for lemon cookies and Italian bread ahead of the storm.

In Brooklyn, which had more than 22 inches of snow in some neighborhoods, residents cleared sidewalks and dug out cars. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday encouraged residents to sign up to help the city shovel snow for $30 an hour.

Sample snowfall totals across the Northeast

Snowfall topped 2 feet in parts of Massachusetts, and Boston got its first blizzard warning since 2022. Warwick, R.I., got more than 3 feet.

Governors across the region declared states of emergency as forecasts shifted rapidly in recent days. Mamdani issued a travel ban effective through noon Monday, prohibiting vehicles from roads, highways and bridges. Public schools closed for New York City’s first “old-school snow day” since 2019, Mamdani said.

“New York City has not faced a storm of this scale in the last decade,” he said. Schools will reopen Tuesday, the mayor said.

Central Park in New York City, where public schools were closed on Monday.

Blizzard conditions in Midtown Manhattan continued into Monday.

In New Jersey, Gov. Mikie Sherrill warned that the storm could be the worst the state has experienced in decades. NJ Transit suspended bus, light rail and paratransit services Sunday evening and on Monday.

Sherrill said the state had eased travel restrictions by Monday afternoon but still urged residents to stay indoors.

Wind-driven snow swirled across tidal floodwaters that inundated low-lying streets in Beach Haven on Long Beach Island in southern New Jersey.

Surfer Eric Anastasi said the beach town had become a “winter wonderland.”

“This is the most snow we’ve seen in about 25 years,” he said.