Historic bomb cyclone blizzard grips the US Northeast with record snowfall, prolonged power outages, and fresh snow during the cleanup

A region buried, then frozen in place

The storm hit hard, then held on. Across the US Northeast, people spent Tuesday and Wednesday digging out from extreme snowfall while bitter cold slowed any relief. Temperatures were not expected to climb above freezing Tuesday, limiting melting and keeping roads and sidewalks slick.

The blizzard began Sunday night and reached bomb cyclone status in the early hours of Monday. It intensified quickly, with hurricane-force gusts ramping up as snow bands strengthened. Hundreds of thousands lost power as officials declared emergencies, issued travel bans, and urged residents to stay off roads. Tens of millions hunkered down under blizzard warnings.

New York, NY, and the surrounding region did what they could to keep moving. Many people still could not. The storm had already set the tone: deep snow, punishing wind, and a long cleanup that would not fit neatly into a single day.

The numbers tell the story, and the story kept growing

From the Mid-Atlantic to New England, 1 to 3 feet of snow buried communities. As of 7 p.m. ET Monday, Providence, RI, recorded 37.9 inches, the highest reported total in the region’s running tally. Other high totals included: Whitman, MA, with 33.7 inches; Central Islip, NY, with 31 inches; North Stonington, CT, with 30.8 inches; and Lyndhurst, NJ, with 30.7 inches.

Records fell across the region. The bomb cyclone became the biggest snowstorm on record for Providence, RI. Newark, NJ, crossed just over 27 inches by early afternoon Monday, placing the storm as the city’s second-heaviest based on records dating back to 1931. In Philadelphia, PA, totals marked the most from a single storm since January 2016. New York, NY, logged its snowiest winter since the 2020 to 2021 season.

Then another round arrived. Early Wednesday, up to 3 more inches fell in parts of the Northeast, adding a fresh layer on top of already towering piles. Slippery conditions worsened before temperatures rose enough to turn streets into a slushy mess.

Power outages lingered, and restoration stretched into days

Cold and darkness became part of the forecast. By Tuesday night, more than 225,000 customers were still without power across the region, with more than 190,000 in Massachusetts. Most were Eversource customers in southeastern Massachusetts, including Cape Cod.

“It will take days" to restore power to every Massachusetts customer, an Eversource official said.

Doug Foley, Eversource’s president of electric operations in Massachusetts, described the pace in plain terms: “It is a multiday restoration. The last couple customers, unfortunately, will be a couple days out."

By Wednesday afternoon, more than 138,000 customers were still without power, nearly all in Massachusetts and particularly in Cape Cod. Crews worked 18-hour shifts. Warming shelters filled with people looking to recharge phones and take a break from cold homes.

In Barnstable, MA, Anny Enos brought her three grandchildren to a warming station. She said the family had been without power since Sunday afternoon and feared it might not return until Friday. Food spoiled. The fridge was mostly emptied into the trash.

“I hate to say it but it does not seem like they were ready," she said.

Utility crews faced “thousands" of damage sites, Foley said, with some repairs requiring heavy equipment to remove large snow piles before poles could be installed or restored. Reinforcements arrived from other states on Wednesday.

Travel troubles multiplied in the air and on the ground

Even as travel bans eased, movement stayed difficult. Public transit delays continued. Icy roads lingered. Airports struggled to recover.

As of 8 p.m. ET Tuesday, just over 2,200 US flights had been canceled. The majority were tied to four major northeastern airports: Newark, Boston, LaGuardia, and John F. Kennedy. Over the full stretch from Sunday through Tuesday, more than 10,000 flights across the US were canceled. Boston Logan International Airport absorbed the most concentrated disruption, with heavy impacts also across the New York City area airports.

At Philadelphia International Airport, Alyssa Myers tried to get out after her Sunday afternoon flight to Albuquerque was canceled. Rebooking turned into a cycle of changes and cancellations.

“If you do not have to go, cancel the trip, get the refund, wait for warmer weather," she said.

By Wednesday, disruptions began to ease, with nearly 200 flights canceled. Rhode Island’s T.F. Green International Airport reopened Tuesday, and some flights departed Wednesday even as others remained canceled.

On Tuesday evening, when Jamie Meyers’ flight finally landed in New York after delays and a cancellation, the cabin erupted in applause. He was supposed to arrive Sunday. He arrived later, into a city still digging out.

Cleanup crews, salt, and the reality on sidewalks

Cities shifted into extraction mode. In New York, officials reported an aggressive response: 143 million pounds of salt spread by Tuesday evening. The city also recruited at least 3,500 “emergency shovelers," paid $30 per hour, to clear snow from bus stops and streets.

But snow did not fall evenly, and mobility did not return evenly. Jeff Peters, spokesperson for the Center for Independence of the Disabled, NY, described sidewalks that looked clear for a moment, then narrowed into a strip that left no room for strollers or mobility aids.

“You will find a portion of a sidewalk that is clear, and then there is maybe a 6-inch pathway that can only be walked with one foot in front of the other and no room for a stroller, rollator, walker or crutches," Peters said. “Then you get to the corner and not only is it unshoveled, but you have basically a glacier at the end of it."

In Harrisville, RI, Tina Guenette faced more than 33 inches of snowfall and had to shovel out her yard herself to meet a basic need. She uses a motorized wheelchair and has a service dog.

“I really have no choice if my service dog wants to go outside," Guenette said. She added that the town’s volunteer snow-shoveling program has not had volunteers for years.

A storm measured in feet, then measured again in water

The blizzard was not only deep, it was heavy in what it contained. Meteorologist Ryan Maue, former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, calculated that the snowfall held about 2.5 trillion gallons of water.

The scale is hard to picture, so comparisons followed. Melted, the storm’s water volume was described as enough to fill the Empire State Building more than 9,000 times. New York State received a water equivalent of 680 billion gallons, Pennsylvania got 410 billion, and Massachusetts got 28 billion.

Maue said that once melting arrives, it could help mitigate drought affecting parts of the Northeast. For now, it added weight, danger, and a slow grind.

“I think this storm took a severe winter and turned it into an extreme winter or a record extreme winter," he said.

In New York, officials planned large basins of warm water where snow and ice could be dumped to speed melting, according to acting Sanitation Commissioner Javier Lojan. Providence, RI, began trucking snow to five locations, with more dumping grounds under consideration.

More snow, but not another monster

As the region cleared, forecasts pointed to another fast-moving system. Snow was expected to reach the Northeast overnight into Wednesday after first affecting the Great Lakes on Tuesday. Most locations were expected to see less than two inches, with higher elevations in Pennsylvania, NY, and New England possibly picking up a few more inches.

In a landscape already carved into waist-high canyons of snow, even a small additional accumulation mattered. It did not need to be historic to be disruptive.