Madison Sq. Park Closed After Blizzard Blitzes City
The blizzard on Feb. 22- 23 was the second major snowstorm of the season in New York but the first one classified as a blizzard since 2016. The storm dumped 22.1 inches of snow on Washington Heights and 19.7 inches in Central Park.
| 23 Feb 2026 | 10:16
A seated snowman outside Madison Square Park on Feb. 23. Maybe he was waiting for the park to reopen. (
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Madison Square Park looked beautiful, but the Parks Dept. closed it down on Feb. 23 due to danger from fallen branches laden down with heavy, wet snow. (
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A solitary man walks dog down W. 22nd St. in Chelsea on Feb. 22. (
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The famed Chelsea Hotel on W. 23rd St. as the snow began to taper off on Feb. 23. (
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Wet snow sat heavily on branches, creating picturesque streets in Chelsea on West 22nd St., between Seventh and Eighth Ave., on Feb. 22. (
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Deserted street in Chelsea on Feb. 22. (
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A fire engine answers the call on Central Park West.
This snowman has heart, although not necessarily a warm one, outside Madison Square Park. (
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A blizzard that started Sunday night raged into the afternoon of Monday, Feb. 23 dumping 19.7 inches on Central Park by the time it finally tapered off.
Madison Square Park was closed on Feb. 23 due to the danger of falling branches from the heavy wet snow. The snowfall marks the first blizzard to hit the city since Jan. 2016. It’s been classified as a “bomb cyclone” or “Nor’easter” by meteorologists, due to the rapid drop in barometric pressure that has given it so much force.
Wind gusts of up to 47 MPH were reported in Manhattan around 3 a.m. on Feb. 23 and stronger gusts were recorded in the outer boroughs.
As the storm gathered momentum on Sunday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani issued a travel ban for all non-essential vehicle traffic that was in effect from 9 p.m. on Feb. 22 to noon on Feb. 23. This meant that only emergency-response vehicles, MTA buses, utility vehicles, or vehicles transporting workers deemed essential were permitted on the roads.
After getting criticism for ordering schools kids to go to remote learning in an earlier Jan. 25 storm, this time around Mamdani gave a snow day to the city’s approximately one million public school students, the first since 2019. He encouraged schoolkids to go sledding once the blizzard slows, which started around midday on Feb. 23. Students were instructed to return to class on Tuesday, Feb. 24. That drew criticism from the teacher’s union, which cited safety concerns.
By the end of the day on Feb. 23, the website Plow NYC showed that about half the roads in Manhattan, especially along the north/south avenues, had been plowed once in the past hour. Most of the east/west streets had been plowed at least once in the past three hours.
The Dept of Sanitation is offering emergency snow shovelers $30/hour. Anyone looking for a job can walk into any Department of Sanitation office.
The Feb. 22-23 blizzard follows another walloping winter storm that hit New York City a month ago, which dropped 11.5 inches on Central Park on Jan. 25.
The bitterly cold weather that both preceded and outlasted that storm led to 26 deaths, 19 of which occurred outdoors, city officials say. A large number of these deaths reportedly stemmed from hypothermia but several were from drug overdoses.
Snow from last month’s storm also took weeks to melt due to a persistent streak of sub-freezing temperatures; the melting process appeared to have neared completion in many areas when the current blizzard touched down.
City officials say that above-freezing temperatures in the days following Feb. 23 will greatly speed up the melt-off this time around, however. If a new Farmer’s Almanac’s forecast bears out, New Yorkers can look forward to a dry and warmer-than-usual spring, too.
Deborah Fenker contributed to this story.