NEW YORK (BLOOMBERG) -- New York City will close streets, highways and bridges to most traffic as an intense winter storm barrels down on the region.
The travel ban will begin at 9 p.m. on Sunday and end at noon on Monday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced. He also declared a state of emergency.
“We are asking New Yorkers to avoid all non-essential travel,” Mamdani said in a news conference. “For your safety, stay home, stay inside and stay off the roads.”
The mayor also announced that public-school students will have a snow day on Monday as flakes began to fall in what is expected to be an intense winter storm.
NJ Transit announced that buses and light rail would be suspended beginning at 6 pm Sunday.
“We’ve got a full snow day tomorrow, no online school, no remote learning,” Mamdani said in a video posted to X that showed him having a video call with a student. He said that children should stay inside during the height of the storm, but once the peak has passed, encouraged them to go out and sled. It’ll be a “full, classic snow day.”
A mix of snow and rain began to fall on Sunday morning and will intensify as the day progresses. In total, the storm is expected to drop between 18 inches and 24 inches of snow across New York City, with some areas projected to see even higher totals.
“These are blizzard conditions,” Mamdani said. “New York City has not faced a storm of this scale in the last decade.”
During the last bout of intense winter weather in January, Mamdani had called for a remote-learning day — drawing ire from local students and parents. One savvy student even emailed Mamdani’s wife, Rama Duwaji, to plead their case.
The decision to close schools on Monday marks the first full snow day for New York’s public schools since 2019, Mamdani said. He encouraged kids to “stay cozy.”
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