A historic nor'easter classified as a bomb cyclone began pummeling the Northeastern United States on Sunday, February 22, placing more than 35 million people under blizzard warnings from eastern Delaware through New Jersey, New York City, Long Island, and into coastal New England. The storm, unofficially named Winter Storm Hernando, is expected to dump 12 to 24 inches of snow across the Interstate 95 corridor with snowfall rates reaching two to three inches per hour. Wind gusts of 40 to 70 miles per hour are forecast along the coast, creating whiteout conditions that officials have described as potentially life-threatening.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared a city state of emergency and ordered a citywide travel ban beginning at 9 p.m. Sunday through noon Monday, closing all streets, highways, and bridges to non-emergency vehicles. It marks the first blizzard warning issued for New York City since March 2017, nearly a decade ago. The mayor also announced the first full snow day for New York City public schools since 2019, with no remote learning offered, while 18 warming buses and 24 warming centers were deployed across the city. Nassau and Suffolk Counties on Long Island issued similar travel bans as the storm intensified.
Multiple governors declared states of emergency ahead of the storm. New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill issued her declaration effective at noon Sunday, while New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency covering 22 of the state's 62 counties. Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey declared a state of emergency and deployed 200 National Guard members to assist with storm response. Philadelphia is expecting 12 to 18 inches, Boston 18 to 24 inches, and parts of coastal New Jersey could see up to 28 inches with severe whiteout conditions.
The blizzard caused massive disruptions to air travel, with more than 6,400 U.S. flights canceled through Tuesday and over 3,200 canceled on Sunday alone. Airlines including JetBlue, American Airlines, Delta, Southwest, and United waived change and cancellation fees for affected passengers. Approximately two-thirds of flights at JFK and LaGuardia airports were canceled on Sunday. Amtrak proactively canceled Northeast Regional, Acela, and Keystone Service trains on Sunday and Monday. The Long Island Rail Road suspended all service system-wide from 1 a.m. Monday, and Metro-North shifted to reduced hourly service on its main lines.
The storm compounds challenges created by the ongoing partial U.S. government shutdown, which entered its second week on Sunday. The Department of Homeland Security briefly suspended TSA PreCheck at several airports on Sunday morning before reversing course hours later amid public backlash, while Global Entry remains suspended. Forecasters warned of widespread power outages from the combination of heavy wet snow and fierce winds weighing down power lines and tree limbs, with Rhode Island Energy bringing in 200 additional line crews in preparation. Moderate coastal flooding with storm surge of two to four feet is forecast from Delaware Bay to Cape Cod through Monday morning.
Nearly 100 million people across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast are expected to experience moderate-to-extreme impacts from the storm, which meteorologists say meets the criteria for bombogenesis after the central pressure dropped more than 24 millibars in 24 hours. Several universities including Rutgers, Montclair State, and the New Jersey Institute of Technology moved to virtual learning. Officials across the region urged residents to stay indoors and avoid all non-essential travel as conditions were expected to deteriorate rapidly Sunday night into Monday morning.
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