Queens slows to crawl after being blanketed by snow

A massive blizzard quieted the city on Monday. The snow completely blanketed 34th Avenue in Jackson Heights.  Eagle photo by Noah Powelson

By Jacob Kaye & Noah Powelson

A historic blizzard blew into Queens Sunday, bringing the borough to a crawl and covering it in nearly two feet of dense snow that fell well into Monday afternoon.

Queens was quiet Monday morning after more than a foot of snow had fallen before sunrise in parts of the borough. Both of the borough’s airports had been blanketed in 15 inches of snow by 7 a.m., mirroring measurements taken in other parts of the borough, according to the National Weather Service. The storm continued in spurts throughout the day and didn’t fully ease until around 2 p.m. Some parts of the borough recorded 22 inches of snowfall.

A non-essential travel ban instituted by Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Sunday kept the streets mostly empty through noon the following day. While some residents still took to their cars, the streets were mostly inhabited by snow plows, police cruisers, ambulances, fire trucks and pedestrians who had abandoned difficult-to-navigate sidewalks for a freshly plowed street.

The storm was one of the largest seen in the borough since 2016, when a blizzard brought 27.5 inches of snow to the city.

Youssouph Houma shovels snow along Steinway Street in Astoria.  Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye

Still, Queens was not deterred.

“It’s an impressive snowstorm,” Daniel Weiss, a Jackson Heights resident who took his son to a local playground on Monday, told the Eagle. “I’ve definitely been through much heavier, but it’s doing the job.”

And while the snow appeared dramatic, it didn’t cause much damage in its earliest hours. Unlike January’s storm, which was sandwiched by long stretches of bitter cold, the city reported no cold weather deaths ahead of Sunday’s snow.

However, the combination of heavy snow and whipping winds led to over 4,500 power outages throughout Queens, a vast majority of which came on the Rockaway peninsula. In response, the city opened up warming centers at Far Rockaway High School, Beach Channel High School and P.S. 43.

Elsewhere in the borough, businesses were slow to open, a fact lamented by Brit Derr and Aaron Kim, who had trekked from their home with their two-year-old son to a bagel shop on 30th Avenue in Astoria only to find its doors locked.

Rockaway’s summer vibes were chilled by a massive blizzard on Monday, Feb. 23, 2026.  Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach

But bagel or no bagel, their son was enjoying the winter wonderland – the second major snowfall in the past month.

“He’s loving it,” Derr said.

Just down the block, Ken Fitik shoveled the sidewalk in front of Olia, a new fast casual restaurant in Astoria that has known nothing but snow and frigid temperatures in the few weeks it's been open.

Green and white balloons that had been hung to celebrate the restaurant’s grand opening were speckled with snow, as Fitik, the manager, welcomed in customers. By his count, he had served 15 people by 10:30 a.m.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s snowy or sunny, we’ll always be open,” he said.

Having their first true snow day since before the pandemic, students took to the snow for some old-fashioned play. Snowmen cropped up throughout the day and car-less streets on an incline were repurposed as a sled track.

“I think it’s good,” said Weiss’ son, Zachary. “I got a day off.”

Though Mamdani said schools would reopen Tuesday, Monday’s snow day came after the state granted the city a waiver to shutter school buildings and forgo remote learning. Getting students online would have been a logistical nightmare. Because schools were closed for winter break ahead of the storm, the city’s Department of Education had no time to issue devices for students who may need them.

Snow drifts buried cars throughout Queens.  Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach

Kathleen Sullivan, a retired public school teacher in Jackson Heights, told the Eagle that, as a former educator, she thought the retro snow day call was the right one to make.

“I’m happy for my friends still working who get a day off,” Sullivan said. “I’m happy for the kids too.”

Sullivan walked around her neighborhood Monday morning after unsuccessfully trying to get some of her neighbors to join her.

She praised the city’s response to the storm but said she felt sidewalks and street crossings needed to be shoveled at a faster clip. In the past, students freed from school would perform the service. That was no longer the case, she said.

“I do wish that more residents would take a stand and just shovel,” Sullivan said. “When I grew up here, there were more kids walking around with shovels. I don’t know if parents won’t allow them to do that, or if they just don’t think about it. But [kids] can make a couple extra bucks, go knock on somebody’s door and say ‘I’ll shovel for you.’”

Pedestrian crossings were cleared quickly along Steinway Street in Astoria, where Youssouph Houma shoveled the sidewalk for the Steinway Astoria Partnership, the local business improvement district.

Houma said he had been performing the difficult task for the BID for four years. He’s been particularly busy this winter, which has seen measurable snow multiple times since the start of December, not to mention the two major storms that slammed the city this month.

He began shoveling around 8 a.m. and planned to make his way south down Steinway Street throughout the day.

“I like the job,” Houma said.

As Houma was speaking with the Eagle, Pajazit Hot, Houma’s boss and the owner of the contracting company that works with the BID, pulled up to the corner in a pickup truck to deliver his employee some food.

30th Avenue in Astoria was quiet Monday morning as snow continued to fall.  Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye

Hot had been making his way around the city, visiting the 250 shovelers he had working on behalf of BIDS throughout the five boroughs. And while he anticipated a long day, the real work wouldn’t come until Tuesday, after the snowfall had long stopped and the city got back to its bustling ways.

“Today, they are not going to do too much,” Hot said. "Tomorrow's the work.”

Additional Reporting by Ryan Schwach