NYC Braces for Blizzard Conditions This Weekend

The city's first blizzard warning since 2017 has been issued in anticipation of Sunday's storm

Editor’s Note: This story has been updated with the latest developments on the incoming snowstorm.

What a difference a day can make. When we initially reported this story, the weather was promising a fairly palatable nothing to as much as a foot of snow this weekend. Now, a blizzard warning has been issued for much of the East Coast, as the “bomb cyclone” moving in from the north readies a full-on assault on a city only just beginning to feel familiar again. The storm could now bring 18 inches or more of snow to our already battered streets and sidewalks, which have become minefields of misery and barely veiled excrement in the weeks it’s taken to thaw out from our first round of historic snow this season.

Just a few days back, the storm seemed so innocent, playful even, mostly a looming possibility without any clear accumulation estimates, teasing up to a foot of snow under the right conditions. This was less than 36 hours ago, on February 19, when Accuweather found the most likely outcome to be a gentle but annoying 1-3 inches. There was only a 13% chance of us seeing more than 6 inches at the time. Which is to say, whatever those conditions were, we’ve certainly met them, as a foot or quite more is apparently now inevitable between Sunday morning and Monday night, according to the National Weather Service. The blizzard warning—the city’s first since 2017, according to The New York Times—is in effect between 6 a.m. on Sunday, February 22, and 6 p.m. on Monday, February 23, in anticipation of 13-18 inches of snow, winds as high as 55 mph, and poor visibility.

While it’s another unfortunate blow to a collective morale already battered by a brutal, and, frankly, kinda charmingly honest winter, there is maybe a silver lining here, at least for kids, who could be looking at their first proper snow day in ages, should things get particularly messy out there. Don’t get your hopes up just yet, though. Mayor Mamdani was hesitant call it when Fern came knocking in late January, unloading anywhere from 11 (in Williamsburg) to roughly 15 (in Washington Heights) inches on the city and surrounding areas, with parts of Westchester and Bergen County, New Jersey seeing even higher totals.

So, yes—it appears we really are about to do this again. But, hey, as the mayor pointed out during the January storm, these are great opportunities to stay put and work through any lingering watchlists or reading queues.