East Coast Blizzard, Bomb Cyclone, Nor'easter Hammering New York, New Jersey, Mid-Atlantic, New England
East Coast Blizzard, Bomb Cyclone, Nor'easter Hammering New York, New Jersey, Mid-Atlantic, New England
weather.com meteorologists Mon, February 23, 2026 at 12:40 PM UTC
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An East Coast blizzard is clobbering areas from New England to New York City to New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware with over a foot of snow driven by high winds leading to power outages and coastal flooding from this bomb cyclone.
This storm has been named Winter Storm Hernando by The Weather Channel.
(MAPS: Track The Storm Now)
Happening Now
Snow is falling at the rate of 1 to 3 inches per hour along the East Coast from New England to the Delmarva Peninsula, including Long Island, the New York City tri-state, and New Jersey.
This snow has been, at times, accompanied by lightning strikes, especially just offshore of southeast New England near Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Island.
Parts of Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island have already picked up over a foot of snow. A few locations have even topped 20 inches of snow, including Freehold, New Jersey, and Islip, Long Island.
It's already New York City's heaviest snowstorm in five years, topping Winter Storm Fern's 11.4-inch total almost a month ago.
Winds have gusted up to 84 mph on Montauk, Long Island, and at least a dozen other locations have clocked at least 60 mph wind gusts, including New York's JFK Airport and Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The low-pressure system has intensified rapidly enough to be deemed a bomb cyclone. This nor'easter's central pressure plunged 40 millibars in 24 hours ending at 1 a.m. ET Monday morning, according to analyses from NOAA's Weather Prediction Center.
The map below shows where snow is falling right now.
(LIVE UPDATES: East Coast Blizzard Impacts)
Winter Storm Alerts
Blizzard warnings continue from the Delmarva Peninsula to all of coastal New England, including New York City, Boston, Hartford and Philadelphia.
It's the first time in nine years blizzard warnings have been issued for all five boroughs of New York City and the first time in four years blizzard warnings were issued for Boston.
Various other areas remain under either winter storm warnings or winter weather advisories, including the higher terrain of the northern Appalachians.
Forecast: How Much More Snow?
In general, the heaviest snow and strongest winds will last much of Monday in New England, but slowly diminish during the day in the mid-Atlantic states to the New York City tri-state.
That said, travel will continue to be either dangerous or impossible, in spots, through Monday in the area most impacted. Expect flights to be grounded and some smaller airports to close until conditions improve.
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By late tonight, most of the snow should have exited New England.
The heaviest additional snow Monday will fall in southern and coastal New England.
This will leave widespread storm totals in excess of a foot from Delaware to at least southeast Massachusetts.
This will be a heavy, wet, "heart attack" kind of snow that will weigh down power lines, roofs and trees. Please take care of yourself while removing snow.
(MORE: "Heart Attack" Snow)
Snowfall forecast in addition to what has already fallen during the stormForecast: Wind, Coastal Flood Impact
Wind gusts from 40 to 75 mph will continue in coastal New England much of Monday before winding down later tonight.
From the New York City tri-state southward, these strong wind gusts will taper off by afternoon.
In addition to blizzard conditions, these winds are capable of downing wires and trees, leading to power outages for hundreds of thousands in the region that could last for a few days.
(MORE: How To Preserve Heat When Power Is Out)
These onshore winds will still lead to areas of minor to moderate coastal flooding with the next high tide from midday-early afternoon Monday, then again late tonight from southeast New England to the North Carolina's northern Outer Banks.
Has It Been Snowy This Winter?
Long answer made short, yes.
Let's get specific.
Prior to this storm, Boston has seen over 8 inches more than average with a snowfall total of 42.5 inches so far. This is significantly higher than the 28.1 inches the city saw last year. A lot of this snowfall came when Winter Storm Fern slammed the city, bringing a top 10 snowiest day on record.
(MORE: Winter Storm Fern Recap)
New York City, specifically Central Park, has seen 22.3 inches of snowfall so far this year before Hernando. Compare this to last year, where they saw only 12.9 inches.
Philadelphia has seen 16 inches of snowfall this year, double what it saw last year.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
