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NEW YORK (AP) — As the Northeast grappled with a fierce and, in some places, record-setting snowstorm, neighbors, government employees, and the formidable rail snowplow known as “Darth Vader” joined forces to clear the aftermath. This powerful storm had covered the region in a thick blanket of snow, causing thousands of flights to be grounded.
With the snowstorm gradually shifting north and diminishing in intensity on Tuesday, meteorologists cautioned that another storm might be imminent.
The blizzard, deemed the most severe in a decade by weather experts, unleashed over two feet (61 centimeters) of snow across parts of the Northeast on Monday. By Tuesday, the situation began to improve as roads reopened, public transport systems resumed operations in certain cities, and power was restored to many of the hundreds of thousands affected by outages in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware, and Rhode Island.
In New York City, where classes were canceled on Monday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced the reopening of schools for in-person attendance on Tuesday, sparking debate over the practicality of this decision given the snow still obstructing sidewalks.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella suggested that schools should remain closed, while Michael Mulgrew, head of the United Federation of Teachers, described the situation as “a big mess.”
“There’s going to be low attendance of students. You’re going to have low attendance of staff because people don’t know if they can travel, if they can get to schools,” he said.
Spokespersons for Mamdani didn’t respond to an email seeking comment but his schools chief, Chancellor Kamar Samuels, said in a post on X, that they were “confident in our decision to reopen.”
Philadelphia switched to online learning Monday and Tuesday. Districts on Long Island and elsewhere in the New York suburbs said they would cancel school again Tuesday.
The National Weather Service said it’s tracking another storm that could bring more snow to the region later this week.
While the new storm is not expected to be as strong, even a few extra inches of snow on top of hard-hit areas could make cleanup more difficult, said Frank Pereira, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.
“Any additional snow at this point is probably not going to be welcome,” he said.
The weather service referred to Monday’s storm as a “classic bomb cyclone/nor’easter off the Northeast coast.” A bomb cyclone happens when a storm’s pressure falls by a certain amount within a 24-hour period, occurring mainly in the fall and winter when frigid Arctic air can reach the south and clash with warmer temperatures.
More than 2,000 flights in and out of the United States were canceled Tuesday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Most of the cancellations involved airports in New York, New Jersey and Boston.
Rhode Island’s T.F. Green International Airport paused its airport operations Monday as it dealt with nearly 38 inches (97 centimeters) of snow, according to the Weather Service, breaking a record set in 1978.
Central Park in New York City recorded 19 inches (48 centimeters) of snow. Warwick, Rhode Island, exceeded 3 feet (91 centimeters), topping the nation so far. The highest wind gust of 83 mph (134 kph) was recorded in Nantucket, with hurricane-force gusts seen all over Cape Cod.
New York, Philadelphia and other cities, as well as several states, declared emergencies.
The Boston Globe management called off printing its daily newspaper for the first time in its more than 150-year history because snow and winds kept staff from safely getting to its printing plant, the newspaper said in an article on its website.
In the New York City-area, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority said Monday evening that subway lines are mostly operational after earlier delays, with the exception of the hard-hit borough of Staten Island, where rail service remained suspended.
Commuter rail service to suburbs to the north and east of the city were expected to resume limited service ahead of the Tuesday morning commute, the MTA said.
Christa Prince and two others were out in Brooklyn on Monday afternoon with shovels and an electric snowblower.
“We’re just making a path for this car,” Prince said. “It’s not our car but you know, we’re just doing our neighbor a kind deed.”
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