During times of emergency, The Foggiest Idea consolidates the reports of various news outlets to provide accurate, timely, and useful information to help reduce the spread of misinformation that jeopardizes timely response.
Update as of 2:00 PM on Tuesday, February 24, 2026
Radiant blue skies greeted storm-battered Long Islanders Tuesday morning, as the efforts to dig out from the historic Blizzard of 2026 resumed.
On Monday, the National Weather Service unofficially reported 29.1 inches of snow at Islip’s MacArthur Airport, breaking the prior record of 27.8 inches that was set in 2013. At its peak, snows fell at rates that approached four inches an hour, and gusts blew as high as 84 mph – well within Category 1 hurricane force.
In the end, the mammoth storm highlighted the atmospheric power that a late-season nor’easter can bring as it crippled communities from New Jersey to Massachusetts, and beyond.
Craig Allen, who was chief meteorologist for WCBS 880 for four decades, noted on his social media pages that the storm’s composition had the “perfect form, perfect location, perfect dynamics with perfect interactive timing,” – all the makings for a record-breaking event. “The power of the atmosphere is amazing,” Allen added.
Pictured: A clear NYS Route 25A in Stony Brook. Roads were generally clear the day after the historic Blizzard of 2026 paralyzed the NYC metro region. (Source: Richard Murdocco/TFI)
On Long Island, heavy wet snows triumphed over plows – with officials finding themselves needing to call pay loaders in to help get stuck plow trucks moving again. Out on the East End, municipalities have been struggling to clear the heavy, wet snows. In Southold, Dan Goodwin, the Town’s Highway Superintendent, noted that equipment breakdowns have added to their difficulties. Further west, the Towns of Brookhaven, Islip, Smithtown, and Huntington have dispatched hundreds of plows around the clock to clear the remaining residential roads, with the trucks rumbling by frequently during the overnight hours.
PSEG Long Island has restored the majority of power outages, with their online outage map showing less than 1,000 ratepayers impacted by an outage by Tuesday morning. A total of 42,000 were without power during the storm’s peak.
Travel bans on the roads in both counties were lifted as the AAA Northeast told Newsday that most major roads were expected to be clear by Tuesday’s AM rush, and trains once again – though limited in service – started moving on some LIRR branches. Area airports have scattered delays but hundreds of cancellations. Long Island’s schools were closed or remote – but New York City was back as scheduled Tuesday, much to the chagrin of students. Courts in the area delayed their opening until 11:00 AM.
Editor’s Note: This is the last update from The Foggiest Idea on this weather event. Thank you for following along.
Update as of 5:00 PM on Monday, February 23, 2026
The Blizzard of 2026 surpassed forecaster’s expectations, resulting in a nor’easter that struck with historic fury.
As of writing, the National Weather Service unofficially reported 29.1 inches of snow at Islip’s MacArthur Airport, breaking the prior record of 27.8 inches that was set in 2013. At its peak, snows fell at rates that approached four inches an hour, and gusts blew as high as 84 mph – well within Category 1 hurricane force.
As evidenced by the echoing sound of snowblowers struggling to clear the momentous drifts in communities across the region, clean-up efforts began Island-wide as the storm finally wound down in the late afternoon. In its historic wake, the region remains essentially paralyzed.
MTA officials are saying that LIRR service may not be restored until later Monday or even Tuesday, bus services in both counties are suspended, and roads are essentially empty due to travel bans that were enacted the night prior. As conditions continue to worsen, towns such as Riverhead and East Hampton have extended their local travel bans well into Monday evening. Countless businesses and offices closed Monday. Islandwide, school districts have already announced closures for Tuesday.
In Smithtown, town officials urged residents to be patient, saying that residential roads will be cleared by tomorrow (Tuesday, Feb. 24) afternoon. The Town of Hempstead has communicated a similar timeline for clearance of their local roads as well.
Power outages have cascaded up and down the eastern seaboard, with the majority of customers impacted in New Jersey and Delaware. Locally, PSEG Long Island is reporting 10,000 outages as of writing, a result of the wetter-than-usual snowfall taking down tree limbs and power lines.
Bob Oravec, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center, told The New York Times that despite the historic snows, accumulations are expected to melt relatively quickly. Forecasters expect temperatures to hover around or above freezing in the coming days, and the snows composition is conducive to melting quickly.
Update as of 8:35 PM on Sunday, February 22, 2026
Long Islanders hunkered down Sunday evening as the first blizzard to slam the metro area since 2022 begun to ramp up in intensity.
From what many thought would be a simple late-season dusting, the weather forecast became increasingly severe, with experts now eventually warning millions to expect a historic system that was poised to dump roughly two feet of snow amid Tropical Storm force wind gusts.
Travel bans were enacted across Nassau and Suffolk Counties for Sunday evening through at least through Monday morning, and the MTA announced that Long Island Rail Road Service will halt its operations overnight. At the airports, thousands of flights were cancelled at JFK Airport, LaGuardia, MacArthur, and Newark, leaving winter break travelers scrambling to make alternative arrangements for lodging and transportation.
At least the kids saw a glimpse of reprieve from winter’s wrath. Almost every school district preemptively called a bonafide snow day – no remote learning – before the flakes even started sticking. As an additional sign of the storm’s severity, New York City schools closed due to severe weather for the first time since 2019. Courts across the area and their associated offices also closed.
The composition of the storm – with a footprint of over 1,000 miles and its rapid strength – has prompted some amateur forecasters who frequent social media circles to use clickbait-friendly terms like “blizzicane.” As for the experts, they avoided such phrasing and continued to warn of the storm’s dangers.
“The worst isn’t even here yet,” John Feerick, Senior Meteorologist at AccuWeather, told listeners on 1010 WINS. Feerick described how conditions will continue to deteriorate overnight. “Travel problems are going to likely continue well after this storm is gone tomorrow afternoon.”
As of writing, local highways were fairly empty as most heeded officials warnings to hunker down.
Update as of 7:00 am on Saturday, February 22, 2026
From what was initially an all-or-nothing forecast, weather predictions slated to impact millions in the northeastern United States have become increasingly dire as a massive nor’easter churns its way northward, threatening to bring with it heavy snow, coastal flooding, and strong winds. The storm system, whose track had perplexed forecasters for days, now sprawls over 1,000 miles across and poses the most severe winter threat that the New York City metropolitan region has seen for years.
Pictured: NWS snowfall accumulation forecasts for the coming blizzard. Forecasters say these totals can go higher if the storm track shifts even slightly. (Source: National Weather Service, New York Office)
With less than 24-hours until the flakes are expected to start falling, Long Islanders woke up to amplified predictions of a late winter storm event that will bring a predicted nearly two feet of snow – with some computer and AI models showing over that amount of accumulation if the projected storm track shifts even slightly. If the accumulated totals weren’t enough, winds gusts are expected to range from 60 to 70 mph along the coast. As tends to be the norm with these late-season nor’easter systems, Long Island’s East End is targeted to take the biggest hit as the storm sideswipes the twin forks.
Throughout the day on Saturday, the sun shone brightly and temperatures were relatively mild compared to the frigid blast the region experienced the month prior. After a sustained and nearly historic cold spell – which accounted for one of the longest stretches of days that had temperatures below freezing in decades – many thought that winter’s wrath was over. However, this latest nor’easter presents yet another volley of harsh weather in what has been an especially active winter season.
During a Saturday afternoon press conference, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency, calling the looming storm “brutal.” In Nassau and Suffolk Counties, both county executives Bruce Blakeman and Ed Romaine urged residents to stay off the roads, while local town officials touted the preparedness measures they’ve taken. In an emailed message to its ratepayers, PSEG Long Island stressed that the utility “…will be ready to respond to any power outages safely and as quickly as possible.”
As per the weather service’s latest guidance, snows are forecast to hit the region from the southwest to the northeast on Sunday, with accumulation starting on Long Island by the late afternoon. The combination of heavy wet snow and winds is expected to bring scattered power outages as tree limbs get weighed down, and the weather service warned of damage to poorly constructed structures due to the weight of the snowfall.
“Things have really escalated quickly overnight,” Accuweather meteorologist Bill Dager said on-air via 1010 WINS. “If you have the time today to prepare, today is the day to do it,” he noted early Saturday. According to Dager, the snow is expected to be wetter and heavier compared to the last snows the region experienced, and local hospitals are warning residents of the risk of heart attacks during shoveling. Craig Allen, who was chief meteorologist for WCBS 880 for four decades, said that the storm’s intensity is analogous to “a category 1 or 2 hurricane” on the Saffir-Simpson scale. Allen added that the nor’easter can rank among the top ten events to impact the region.
Forecasters are calling for the heaviest snow and strongest winds to occur throughout Sunday night into Monday morning, and warned that during this time travel will be dangerous to impossible. Sustained winds are slated to be 45 mph, with gusts of 60 mph and stronger. Moderate to locally major coastal flooding – bringing with it up to three and a half feet of inundation across Long Island’s south shore – is anticipated. Snowfall rates during the storms peak can top three inches per hour.
For those longing for warmer days, hope should spring eternal – the weather forecast in the days following the blizzard calls for above-freezing temperatures and sunnier skies by the end of the week.
This is a developing story. Stay tuned to TFI for more updates as conditions warrant.
Richard Murdocco is an award-winning columnist and adjunct professor in Stony Brook University’s public policy graduate program and School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. He is currently pursuing his J.D. at Touro Law. He regularly writes and speaks about Long Island’s real estate development issues. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.
