New Yorkers woke up to blasts of snow outside their windows Sunday morning and watched about nine inches accumulate by late afternoon as a major snowstorm blanketed mostly empty streets, frosted high-rise buildings and delighted countless children, if not their parents.
The heavy snow and numbing cold temperatures kept many people inside for the day. Some stores and restaurants closed early, or never opened at all. Buses, subways, trains and the Staten Island Ferry continued running, but often with delays and limited service.
Many other New Yorkers carried on, refusing to give in to the elements. Chief among them was Mayor Zohran Mamdani, facing his first major snow test.
He kept New Yorkers up-to-date on the unfolding storm through social media and a news conference, sometimes in a somber tone.
He shared the grim news that five people had been found dead outside on Saturday, saying that “we mourn the loss of any and every New Yorker.” Later his office announced that two people had been found dead on Sunday, one a homeless person who was found on a park bench in Jackson Heights, Queens. Jessica Ramos, the local state senator, said the man had frozen to death.
The mayor was playful at other times. When he announced that the city’s public school students would have remote learning on Monday instead of a snow day, he told them, “feel free to throw a snowball at me.”
In Washington Heights, Manhattan, Camilla Chuvarsky, 42, a transplant from Colorado, bundled up, and put on heated gloves and trail running shoes before setting out for a four-mile run through the snowstorm. “It’s nice and quiet without a lot of cars on the street, which is great,” she said.
Over in nearby J. Hood Wright Park, dogs with snow sticking to their fur raced back and forth with their owners, kicking up a trail of white dust. Melissa Sabugal, 42, was out with her 4-year-old American Eskimo dog, Zuma. “He’s very happy in the snow, so I take him even if I’m not happy in the snow,” she said with a laugh.
And in Astoria, Queens, Lucas Panayog, 58, was busy shoveling piles of snow off the sidewalk on his block. “I’m not a big fan of winter,” he said. “But I’ve known these people for years. The lady down this block is 93, what could she do?”
Mr. Mamdani said the city was ready for the big snowstorm after days of intense preparation by city agencies, including pre-salting highways and major streets beginning on Friday. He said the “immense snow-fighting operation” included deploying more than 700 salt spreaders and 2,200 plow vehicles.
“Early this morning, snow began to fall,” the mayor said at a news conference on Sunday. “While the sun had not yet risen, New York City’s workers certainly had.”
The mayor even pitched in himself. A video posted on X showed Mr. Mamdani picking up a shovel to help dig out a driver stuck in the snow in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Mr. Mamdani later shared the video, along with the caption: “As I have said, there is no task too big or no job too small. Happy to lend a hand and help out New Yorkers. Stay safe!”
There were no reports of widespread power outages or major snow-related problems as of Sunday afternoon. City officials said they expected up to 11 inches of snow by nighttime, as well as wind gusts of 35 miles per hour followed by light freezing rain overnight.
Many of the city’s subway lines were running with delays, and the 7, L and Q lines were partly suspended on Sunday because of the storm. NYC Ferry suspended all service because of snow and low visibility.
Metro-North Railroad and Long Island Rail Road were experiencing delays and some reduced, canceled or suspended service. NJ Transit suspended all bus, rail, and light rail service.
The five people who died on Saturday included a 67-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman, but the medical examiner has not yet determined whether they died from the cold, police officials said.
On Saturday, the temperature plunged to 9 degrees in Central Park, the lowest reading since February 2023, according to the National Weather Service. On Sunday, the lowest temperature was 10 degrees.
As of Sunday afternoon, 8.8 inches of snow had already fallen in Central Park, with more accumulation through early Sunday night, according to the Weather Service. After that, the storm was expected to taper off with light flurries, amounting to less than an inch, by Monday morning.
To keep people safe, city officials opened 10 “warming centers” in school buildings across the city. Outreach workers had made about 86 placements of homeless people at shelters, drop-in centers or hospitals during the weekend, Neha Sharma, a spokeswoman for the city’s Social Services Department, said on Sunday evening. Though most placements have been voluntary, some have been involuntary, which is standard during a “Code Blue” weather emergency, according to the department. “This would be a very small number,” Ms. Sharma said. “Probably a handful.”
By midday on Sunday, Gov. Kathy Hochul warned that the storm had already shattered records in upstate New York, with actual temperature readings of -34 degrees in Watertown and -49 in Copenhagen. “We are anticipating the longest cold stretch and the highest snow totals the state has seen in several years,” she said.
Ms. Hochul added that 100 National Guard members had been deployed to help in areas including New York City, Long Island and the Hudson Valley, where between 10 and 14 inches of snow had fallen in some areas by Sunday evening. Another six to 10 inches were expected through Monday afternoon both in the Hudson Valley and in the Albany region, which had received between seven and nine inches of snow by Sunday evening, according to the National Weather Service.
For many New Yorkers, it was a work day but hardly business as usual as they tried to make the best of it. At the entrance to Central Park, a pedicab driver called out to tourists rushing by, asking if they wanted a 30-minute ride.
Several Broadway and Off Broadway shows canceled performances on Sunday. But the Broadway League, a trade association that represents producers and theater owners, had said on Saturday that the curtain would rise on “most Broadway shows” as planned, frustrating some theatergoers and performers who raised concerns about safety.
In Harlem, Pedro Ortiz, 35, opened his coffee-and-bagel cart at 5 a.m. on Sunday. “I have bills to pay,” said Mr. Ortiz, who lives in the Bronx and typically earns about $300 a day.
Tamara Plummer, a hospital worker in northern Manhattan, ran out during a break in her shift to scrape snow off her car. “It’s frigid, and I’m cold, and I’m trying to stay warm,” she said, standing on a strip of pavement on Broadway.
On the Upper West Side, several hardware shops remained open even as the snow intensified through the day. At UWS Hardware on West 102nd Street, a stream of customers came in and out asking for batteries and snow-moving equipment.
Other New Yorkers did not have to be out working, but they were not ready to give up their Sunday routines.
In the West Village in Manhattan, popular restaurants were as busy as ever. Charlie Thompson, 26, attempted to score a table without a reservation at three different restaurants. He said that 4 Charles Prime Rib did not have any availability, while Via Carota and I Sodi both had waits between an hour and an hour and a half.
“We thought it would be a little easier than this, honestly,” Mr. Thompson said, hunkering down in a covered area in front of I Sodi on Bleecker Street.
Avery Bowers, 25, was reluctant to go out. But when she saw people outside, some even skiing, she ended up walking a half-hour with friends and neighbors from her building on 25th Street to the West Village, where they landed at L’Industrie Pizzeria.
There was a bustling crowd inside, but not outdoors. “Normally, the line is all the way down the street and we have to wait two hours,” Ms. Bowers said.
Earlier in the day, in a coffee shop in Long Island City, Queens, Max Beauchamp, 38, was the sole customer lingering over a plate of bacon, egg and cheese and an iced latte. “I mean, staying home is good, but supporting my local business for a quick breakfast is good too,” he said.
Kyle Taranto, 28, was one of the few pedestrians still trying to cross the Brooklyn Bridge even though the panoramic view of the Manhattan skyline was shrouded in fog. “It’s pretty rough,” he said, dodging ice pellets as gusts rattled the bridge. “The snow hurts.”
But across the Hudson River in Weehawken, N.J., William Campbell, 2, was not about to miss the big snowstorm. Dressed warmly in a jacket, snow pants and a bright green beanie, he excitedly caught flakes on his tongue and blew raspberries toward his father.
“He wanted to build a snowman, but this isn’t snowman snow,” said his father, Stephen Campbell. “This is his first real snow day, so we’re just enjoying it.”
Reporting was contributed by Ashley Southall, Tim Balk, Oishika Neogi, Anusha Bayya, Kaja Andric, Stella Raine Chu and Taylor Robinson.
Winnie Hu is a Times reporter covering the people and neighborhoods of New York City.
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