STORY: A powerful blizzard dropped more than two-and-a-half feet of snow (76.2 cm) across parts of the U.S. Northeast on Monday (February 23), bringing travel to a near-standstill for millions of residents as the treacherous conditions closed roads, shut down train services and forced the cancellation of some 7,400 flights.

Thousands of homes and businesses lost power and officials, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, urged residents to stay off the roads so emergency crews could clear the streets. Schools in New York and throughout the region were closed. Broadway shut its theaters.

More than 19 inches (48 cm) of snow had fallen on New York City's Central Park by 1 p.m. ET (1800 GMT) on Monday and over 14 inches fell in Boston, said Bob Oravec, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center.

Winds, at times reaching between 40 to 60 mph (64-100 kph), blew snowdrifts several feet high.

Philadelphia received 14 inches while Providence, Rhode Island, was buried under more than 32 inches of snow, a record for the city.

More than 608,711 homes and businesses across the U.S. were without power as of Monday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us. That included one in 10 of the nearly 3 million power customers PowerOutage.us tracks in Massachusetts.

At least seven U.S. states had declared states of emergency in response to the storm as of Monday.

Airlines had canceled more than 7,400 flights by Monday afternoon and delayed another 2,300, according to the tracking site FlightAware.com.

That figure included more than 1,800 canceled Tuesday (February 24) flights, according to the site. Most of the cancellations and delays were in the northeastern U.S., including New York's John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia airports, Boston's Logan Airport, and New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she had activated 100 National Guard members to assist in Long Island, New York City and the lower Hudson Valley, areas expected to bear the brunt of the heavy snow and coastal winds. The storm forced the closure of the U.N. headquarters complex in Manhattan on Monday.

The Department of Homeland Security said that despite its ongoing funding lapse the Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster-response work would continue uninterrupted, including staff travel, emergency operations and critical assistance for people affected by active disasters.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: VARIOUS OF PEOPLE SHOVELING SNOW/ FRONT YARDS COVERED IN SNOW/ TRAFFIC

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE STORY

SHOWS: BRONX, NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 22, 2026) (STRINGR.COM - Access all)

1. PEOPLE WALKING ON PLATFORM ON TRAIN STATION AS SNOW FALLS

2. VARIOUS OF TRAIN STATION COVERED IN SNOW

3. VARIOUS OF VEHICLE COVERED IN THICK SNOW

4. STREET SIGNS/ TRAFFIC LIGHT COVERED IN SNOW

5. OVERTURNED PLASTIC BOXES IN SNOW SLUSH

6. PERSON WALKING OVER OVERTURNED PLASTIC BOXES/ PERSON CARRYING PERSON THROUGH SNOW SLUSH

ALDAN, PENNSYLVANIA, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 23, 2026) (STRINGR.COM - Access all)

7. PEOPLE CLEANING SIDEWALK FROM SNOW IN RESIDENTIAL AREA

8. SNOWMAN

9. VARIOUS OF PEOPLE REMOVING SNOW FROM SIDEWALKS

10. ICICLES HANGING FROM ROOF

11. PERSON REMOVING SNOW FROM SIDEWALK

12. (SOUNDBITE)(English) UNIDENTIFIED RESIDENT, SAYING:

“I like this weather because I get to stay with my kids at home. Otherwise we are always working and just running to work. So today we cannot go anywhere. Just stay home.”

13. VARIOUS OF TREE WITH SNOW-COVERED BRANCHES

14. WATER AND SNOW ON ROAD

BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 21, 2026) (STRINGR.COM - Access all)

15. STOP SIGN COVERED IN SNOW

16. VEHICLE COVERED IN SNOW

17. PERSON REMOVING SNOW FROM VEHICLE’S FRONT WINDOW SEEN FROM INSIDE VEHICLE

18. HEAVY SNOW IN RESIDENTIAL AREA

19. (SOUNDBITE)(English) RESIDENT, BRADLEY JAY, SAYING:

“I told myself ‘that was it.’ And I thought if I fought that hard enough, that would be it. But it turns out is another storm. And for me, a person who walks a lot, it makes me a prisoner. We just kind of dug out from the other storm, and I won't be able to really walk around town for another ten days. So I'm stuck inside. It's just miserable to try to walk, to try to get on the sidewalks when they have cut parts from the roads in the street to the sidewalk is really dangerous.”

20. TRAIN MOVING AMID SNOW FALL

21. VARIOUS OF HEAVY SNOW IN RESIDENTIAL AREA

EDGARTOWN, MARTHA'S VINEYARD, MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES (REUTERS – Access all)

22. VARIOUS OF MOTORBOATS AND PIER COVERED IN SNOW

23. VARIOUS OF RESIDENTIAL AREA COVERED IN SNOW

24. WATER AND SNOW

SOMERS POINT, NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES (FEBRUARY 22, 2026) (STRINGR.COM - Access all)

25. (NIGHT SHOTS)ROAD COVERED IN SNOW AMID HEAVY SNOW FALL

26. (NIGHT SHOTS) “BE SAFE” DISPLAYED ON BUILDING

27. (NIGHT SHOTS)PARKING LOT COVERED IN SNOW AMID HEAVY SNOW FALL

28. VEHICLE ON PARKING LOT

29. BULLDOZER REMOVING SNOW

30. PERSON MOVING SHOPPING CARTS ON PARKING LOT

31. U.S. FLAG AND OTHER FLAGS FLAPPING IN STRONG WIND

32. BULLDOZER REMOVING SNOW

33. HEAVY SNOWFALL