New Yorkers weren’t digging this cleanup.
The Big Apple was an urban tundra Monday after the monster storm that walloped the region left snow totals not seen in years – with warmer temperatures not coming anytime soon.
Winter Storm Fern brought more than a foot of snow to parts of the city as workers and residents strained their backs shoveling out cars and clearing sidewalks in below freezing temperatures.
“It’s hard,” 43-year-old David Vallejo said as he shoveled his driveway in Jamaica, Queens. “It’s like I’m exercising.”
A worker clears snow from the entrance to a parking lot during Winter Storm Fern in New York City. REUTERS
Monday’s snowfall was expected to taper off completely by 1 p.m. in the city, though below-freezing temperatures are forecast to continue into next week, the NWS said. NWS
Students were pushed into remote learning, commuters who braved the trek into the office faced slow public transit and travelers looking to fly into the city instead dealt with flight cancellations.
The arctic blast also turned tragic with seven New Yorkers confirmed dead over the weekend, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said during a Monday press conference.
Their causes of death still needed to be confirmed, but some of the dead “had interactions with our shelter system in the past,” Hizzoner said noting “we haven’t seen this kind of cold for eight years, and it is debilitating.”
And a retired NYPD sergeant, Roger McGovern, 60, heartbreakingly died as he prepared to shovel snow at his church, Our Lady of Victory Parish, ahead of Sunday mass in Floral Park, Long Island, according to loved ones.
“He was on his way out to shovel and clear paths so others could safely get to church, a quiet act of service that speaks volumes about the kind of person he was,” his cousin Brendan McGovern posted on Facebook Sunday night.
It was the first time the storm dropped more than a foot of snow in the city since 2021.
The storm dumped snow on the city in amounts not seen in years. AFP via Getty ImagesWashington Heights in upper Manhattan got a whopping 14.9 inches of snow as of early Monday, according to the National Weather Service while Central Park received 11.4 inches.
The highest snowfall totals reported around other boroughs include 14 inches in Huguenot, Staten Island; 13.5 inches in Fordham, the Bronx; 12 inches in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and 11.1 inches in Whitestone, Queens.
Towns just outside the Big Apple, like Tenafly in New Jersey’s Bergen County, saw more than 16 inches of snow, the National Weather Service said.
Centre Island in Long Island’s Nassau County reported 15.3 inches of snow, and Westchester County’s Somers saw a jaw-dropping 17 inches.
Jamaica resident Mary, 55, spent about five hours digging her way out of an avalanche of snow.
“Eventually you go in and you feel it,” she said. “You do little scoops. Don’t go too crazy with big scoops.”
“It’s horrible,” Queens local Nasir also said as he shoveled. “Am I over it? Definitely. I’m more of a summer person.”
The newfound piles of fluff are expected to hang around for weeks with temperatures not expected to break freezing well into February, according to forecasts.
“This cold is exceptionally dangerous for anyone spending time outside for prolonged periods. Residents will want to limit outdoor exposure this week and to dress warmly,” AccuWeather meteorologist Alex DaSilva told The Post.
The next time Gotham could see flurries is next Sunday, with a “chance” for snow, according to AccuWeather’s seven-day forecast.
While the city’s Sanitation Department had streets plowed down to the pavement, crosswalks across the five boroughs were like little polar peaks that pedestrians were forced to climb over.
The Big Apple’s two airports, JFK and LaGuardia, also suffered nearly 1,000 flight cancellations for flyers coming into and out of the travel hubs.
In a return to normalcy though, Mamdani announced Monday afternoon students would be back in physical classrooms Tuesday after a day of on-screen learning resulted in glitches for some pupils and their parents.
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy and Brandon Cruz
