Good morning. It’s Monday. Today we’ll look at the latest snowstorm hitting New York, a new approach to holding bad landlords accountable and the death of a salsa legend.
By the time you read this, New York City might well be under as much as two feet of snow — new snow, that is.
Just days ago, as some dirty piles of snow still lingered on the streets from last month’s snowstorm, forecasters were predicting perhaps a dusting to just a few inches of snow starting on Sunday. But the forecasts quickly changed, and by Sunday morning Mayor Zohran Mamdani was warning of 18 to 22 inches. He declared a local state of emergency.
There are plenty of reasons to be unhappy about this. It has been cold for so long! Stores are running out of snow-melting rock salt. Dog 
. But if you’re a public school student, there’s good news for you: There will be a “full classic snow day” today, Mamdani announced in a video call with a smiling girl named Victoria.
This will be the first full snow day without remote learning for New York City public schools since 2019, my colleague Mihir Zaveri reported.
Here’s what else to know about the storm.
Will I be able to travel?
Yes and no.
Nonessential traffic has been banned from 9 p.m. yesterday and until noon today. That means streets, highways, tunnels and bridges will be closed to cars, trucks, scooters and electric bikes except for essential and emergency trips. See a list of exemptions here.
Subway and buses, which are operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, will still be running, though there may be delays and other disruptions.
The Long Island Rail Road was set to fully suspend service by 1 a.m. today.
Metro-North will operate on a reduced schedule. See the details here.
The Staten Island Ferry was set to operate on a modified schedule starting at midnight.
NJ Transit suspended bus, light rail and Access Link service as of 6 p.m. yesterday, and officials were expected to make some changes to rail service.
Airlines have already canceled thousands of flights, so you’ll want to double-check if you have plans to fly into or out of New York this week.
Is anything else closed on Monday?
City offices are closed for in-person services, and public libraries and courthouses are closed.
DoorDash, said that it was suspending operations from 8:30 p.m. yesterday until at least noon today.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art said it would close its Fifth Avenue location and the Cloisters today.
Because of the travel restrictions, many businesses may also be closed for at least part of the day.
There is also the potential for flooding in coastal and low-lying areas, so residents have been urged to move vehicles to higher ground, prepare bags of essentials, make sure their home’s pumps are working and monitor forecasts.
How does this storm compare with others?
This storm prompted the first blizzard warning in New York City since 2017, my colleague Ashley Ahn reported.
The biggest storm since records began in 1869 came in January 2016, when a blizzard dropped 27.5 inches in Central Park. There was also the blizzard of 2006, when 26.9 inches fell at rates of three to five inches an hour.
Ashley has a roundup of the five biggest snowstorms in New York City history here.
In anticipation of this storm, the city put out a call for people to help shovel, and by Sunday morning more than 2,500 had signed up, according to the Sanitation Department. The pay is $19.14 an hour, and the department expected to use about 500 people last night and 800 during the day today, my colleague Miles Cohen reported.
Miles spoke to Tyler Cook, 37, who showed up at 8 a.m. yesterday to sign up after seeing his neighbors struggle to navigate sidewalks during the last snowstorm.
“It’s rough — you’ve got old people, you’ve got kids,” Cook said as he waited outside in the rain, which had yet to turn to snow. “When the first storm happened I was like, There’s so much work to be done.”
What is the city planning to do for homeless people?
The Mamdani administration has been criticized for its response to last month’s storm, when at least 20 people died after exposure to the cold.
As the mayor did then, he has again declared a “code blue” emergency, which means no homeless person will be denied shelter, drop-in centers are open 24 hours a day and outreach teams will increase their efforts to bring people indoors. New Yorkers are asked to call 311 if they see anyone who appears to need help.
The city said there would be 22 warming buses and 24 warming centers, including 13 at schools. See the locations here.
Weather
Today will be snowy and extremely windy, with a high around 36. Expect a cloudy night, with a low around 23.
ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING
Suspended yet again for snow removal.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“It’s going to cause chaos, that’s what I think.” — Representative Nellie Pou, Democrat of New Jersey, about a possible ICE presence at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., where eight World Cup games, including the final, will be played.
The latest Metro news
-
Can New York’s ‘worst landlord’ change? Tenants said one of the city’s most notorious landlords left them without heat or hot water in the winter and let rats run free. That landlord, Daniel Ohebshalom, is now facing up to four years in prison.
-
The nurses’ strike ended: Nurses at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia hospital voted to return to work after winning higher pay, improved staffing levels and layoff protections. The vote ended the largest — and longest — nurses’ strike in the city in decades.
-
A new bill with a clear message: Democratic lawmakers in New Jersey are using their legislative majorities to try to expand residents’ rights to sue federal immigration officials for unconstitutional conduct.
-
Lunar New Year: The Pan-Asian landscape is rich with traditions that blend old and new customs. Palden Weinreb, a Tibetan American artist in Queens, told us how he celebrates Losar, inviting an abundant and blessed year ahead.
-
A luminary of New York salsa music: Willie Colón, a trombonist, singer, bandleader, composer and arranger whose 1978 collaboration with Rubén Blades, “Siembra,” became one of the top-selling salsa albums of all time, has died. He was 75.
METROPOLITAN diary
Geometry regents
Dear Diary:
It was June 1966. I was 15 and on my way to school in Bensonhurst to take the Geometry Regents, the test I dreaded most of all because it required rote memorization of several theorems. No deviation.
I was desperate to memorize these theorems, which I was supposed to have learned by then. First on the Seventh Avenue bus and then on the F train, I glued my eyes to my review book. I always did my most intense studying on the transit system.
About a half-hour after I settled into my subway seat, I looked up from my book. The car was empty, and the train was moving fast. Out the windows I saw nothing but darkness.
Panicked, I jumped up, screaming for help. I ran through the cars until I reached the conductor’s booth. I pounded on the door.
The conductor slid the door open, surprised and then annoyed.
“What are you doing on this train?” he asked. “Did you not hear the ‘Everybody off’ announcement?”
“I was studying,” I said, starting to cry. “I’m taking the Geometry Regents in half an hour.”
The conductor, clearly unhappy, rubbed his eyes and announced over his walkie-talkie that he was turning the train around.
“Sit. Down,” he said.
“Thank you,” I said, as the train rumbled in the other direction. “Thank you. Thank you.”
I made it to the test just in time, and, in a reversal of bad luck, two of the three theorems I had focused on were on the exam. I got a 90.
— Marilyn Horan
Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Tell us your New York story here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.
Glad we could get together here. S.L.
Davaughnia Wilson and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].
Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
The post What to Know About the Snowstorm in New York appeared first on New York Times.
