Blizzard dumps over 15 inches of snow on NYC as state of emergency continues

The historic blizzard pummeling New York City with a triple wallop of gusting winds, freezing temperatures and more than 15 inches of snow brought the five boroughts to a near standstill Monday.

Central Park had accumulated 15.1 inches of snow by 7 a.m. Monday, with snow forecast to continue through midday.

There were no immediate reports of storm-related deaths. But some 200,000 customers lost power in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia, according to poweroutage.us.

Most of the outages in the city are in Queens, where 10,766 customers are without power. Staten Island has 1,771 outages, followed by 303 in Brooklyn.

Many public school students were thrilled, their mid-winter recess extended by at least one day, with Mayor Mamdani granting them a full snow day, with no word yet if classes will resume Tuesday. Monday is the city’s first full snow day with no remote learning since before the COVID pandemic.

Mayor Mamdani declared a state of emergecny Sunday, and urged New Yorkers to stay home if possible and use public transit if they have to move around. A travel ban on all vehicles except first responders, santitation plows and other emergency vehicles remains in effect until noon Monday.

Multiple subway lines, however, are either delayed or temporarily suspended. Buses are moving slower than usual despite the streets and avenues being repeatedly plowed since the storm picked up steam Sunday evening.

Snow totals vary, from 12 to 18 inches in different parts of the city, as well as in the New York suburbs and New Jersey.