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'Take a breath and stay home.’ NY, NJ warn this will be no average snowstorm.

By

Andrew Giambrone

,

Jessica Gould

,

Brittany Kriegstein

,

Jill Webb

and

Ryan Kost

Published Jan 23, 2026

Modified Jan 23, 2026

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Ice covers a lake in Central Park in Manhattan on Dec. 27, 2025.

 

Gary Hershorn / Getty Images

By

Andrew Giambrone

,

Jessica Gould

,

Brittany Kriegstein

,

Jill Webb

and

Ryan Kost

Published Jan 23, 2026

Modified Jan 23, 2026

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The National Weather Service is warning of “considerable disruption to transportation and daily life” in the New York metro area Sunday into Monday, amid predictions of 6 to 12 inches of snowfall by the end of the storm.

And while meteorologists say freezing rain may temper those totals along the coasts, frigid temperatures are likely to cover the region in a sheet of ice, making for even worse driving conditions than standard snowfall.

“That being said, it is going to snow all day on Sunday,” said NWS meteorologist Matt Wunsch. “ There will be a pretty decent accumulation ahead of any mixing if it does occur.”

Still, he cautioned the forecast could still change over the next 48 hours.

New York City public school students will have school Monday despite the forecast, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Friday.

Mamdani said school will either be held in person or via remote learning, depending on how the weather shapes up into the weekend. City Hall will make the call on how to hold school by noon Sunday, he added.

In earlier media appearances Friday, he said a student who found his wife's email wrote to her advocating for closing city schools Monday — but to no avail.

‘Take a breath and stay home’

The mayor urged New Yorkers to stay home once the snow starts to accumulate.

“I want to encourage New Yorkers to do something they don't often have the luxury of doing, which to take a breath and stay home, stay indoors, stay off the roads, watch the snow come down, watch the worst possible reality show you can find and take some time away from the roads,” Mamdani said at the city’s emergency management headquarters Friday morning.

Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency across New York state starting Friday and continuing throughout the weekend, saying that would make it easier to deploy resources to areas in need. She warned the extreme cold and significant snowfall expected across the state would create dangerous conditions for anyone planning to go outdoors.

New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill also declared a state of emergency for all 21 of the Garden State’s counties. She said southern parts of the state were expected to see 8 to 12 inches of snow, while northern areas could see levels as high as 18 inches.

“This is not an average winter storm,” she said at a press conference Friday afternoon. “This is a storm the likes of which we haven't seen in probably about a decade.”

Sherrill urged residents to stay home, keep their phones charged and to not make plans for Monday morning because New Jersey could still be “digging” out” of the storm.

“ This is a good weekend to stay in, watch some football, play a board game with your kids, but please stay off the roads on Sunday,” she said.

All eyes on store shelves

New York Attorney General Letitia James warned residents to beware of possible price gouging around the storm. She said her office would enforce the state’s anti-price gouging law, which prevents businesses from charging excessively high prices for essential goods and services during market disruptions or emergencies and carries penalties of up to $25,000 per violation.

Consumers can file complaints about price gouging to the AG’s office online or by calling 800-771-7755.

Lines were stretching outside some grocery stores by mid-Friday as shoppers attempted to stock up on supplies.

Jose Ramos, an employee managing the line at the Hudson Square Trader Joe's, said employees were struggling to keep up with the demand. Employees were acting as de facto bouncers to manage the influx of customers.

"We're still expecting shipments of groceries to come in but unfortunately we have so many people coming in it's kind of difficult to put stuff out on the shelves,” he said.

At a Home Depot in Bed-Stuy, shoppers were stocking up on snow supplies. One employee said the store had been busy with snow preppers all day.

Nathan Deloitte of Silver Brick Management was there with his coworkers buying handfuls of shovels for the 250 properties they manage.

“We've done this before, so we know what it looks like,” Deloitte said. Now if it's a whole foot of snow, that's going to be different but as long as everybody stays inside that doesn't need to be outside, New York will get through it.”

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a press conference about snow prep, in Manhattan, on Jan. 23, 2026.

Elizabeth Kim / Gothamist

Sorry kids, no snow day off from school

Mamdani’s announcement on school operations marked a shift from statements Thursday where he seemed nostalgic about his own snow days spent sledding and packing trash cans with snow as a kid in the city.

He said he considered the constraints of the school calendar: State law requires 180 instructional days per year, and the 2025-26 calendar only just meets that target, given the addition of new holidays in recent years. That has contributed to city officials’ past decisions to keep schools open during snow days.

But the mayor said snow days off from school are among life’s joys — and left open the possibility they could return at some point.

“I will not tell you it’s the end of anything,” Mamdani said. “We will operate under the constraints that we have from the state, but we also acknowledge that those are constraints that could change at some point in the future.”

High schoolers and students who attend schools for grades six through 12 were already scheduled to be off Monday so that teachers can engage in professional development.

In an interview on 1010 WINS on Friday morning, Mamdani said students will be told to take their school-issued devices home with them for the weekend in case the city opts for remote learning on Monday.

He said officials will be testing remote-learning tech over the weekend to make sure there won’t be any login issues, and making contingency plans for staggered school start times.

But remote learning has been glitchy in the past, causing headaches for students, teachers and families across the city. At the mayor's press conference Friday, Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels referred to one such day in 2024 as a “day that will live in infamy.”

Samuels said the city’s education department has already held simulations and stress tests of the tech and increased the capacity to handle remote learning.

“We now have the capacity of having a million students logging on at the same time,” he said, adding that some teachers may stagger schedules, or invite families to practice with the tech on Sunday.

"I’m very confident … this is going to be successful," he said.

Families will be notified of the city’s plans via email and phone calls, Mamdani said. People can also sign up for official alerts via the Notify NYC system, he added.

Some parents lamented the decision to keep school in session.

“These kids should have a day off. They want to build a snowman,” said Lawanda Joyner, an East Harlem parent of an elementary student.

Some teachers reported getting mixed messages from school leaders about how much instruction they will have to give on Monday.

“Snow days should be snow days, and the use of remote instruction is an empty gesture toward fulfilling the state’s already-compromised 180-day instructional requirement,” said David Bloomfield, an education and law professor at Brooklyn College and CUNY Graduate Center.

This story has been updated with additional information.

How to stay informed through the storm

Tagged

Kathy Hochul

Mikie Sherrill

Zohran Mamdani

education

new york city

remote learning

schools

snow

weather

Andrew Giambrone

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Jessica Gould

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Jessica is the education reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Jessica reported on the shutdown and reopening of the nation’s largest school system, highlighting the unprecedented impacts on learning, health and mental health for students, staff and families. Got a tip? Email [email protected]

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Brittany Kriegstein

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Brittany Kriegstein covers all breaking news around New York City, with a focus on crime and gun violence. Got a tip? Email Brittany at [email protected].

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Jill Webb

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Ryan Kost

Ryan Kost is a reporter on the day-of news desk, where he covers breaking news and writes enterprise stories about jails, courts, prosecutors and government accountability. His work focuses on the public institutions that shape life in New York. Before joining the newsroom, he lead a multi-part investigation with Columbia Journalism Investigations and New York Focus into how New York prosecutors handle wrongful conviction claims. He's also been a staff writer at The San Francisco Chronicle, The Associated Press and The Oregonian. Got a tip? Signal: ryankost.20

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